LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




ULRIC ZWINGLI. 



THE 



MOUNTAIN BOY 



OF 



WILDHAUS 



a jCifc of Hint &»mgli. 



BY REV. DAVID VAN HORNE, D.D. 




EEFOEMED CHUECH PUBLICATION BOAED ; 

907 Aech Steeet. 

1884. 



^3 



COPYRIGHT 
BY REV. DAVID VAN HORNE. 

1884. 



GRANT, FATRES 4 RODGERS. 

ELECTROTYPERS AND PRINTERS, 

54 NORTH SIXTH STREET. 



PREFACE. 



The four hundredth anniversary of the birth-day of 
Ulric Zwingli, which occurs on January 1st, 1884, is the 
immediate occasion for the preparation of this volume. 
Independent of this fact, however, the life of Zwingli is 
worthy of careful study ; for although many nobles and 
princes of his times are now forgotten, the Mountain Boy 
of Wildhaus still maintains a prominent place in history. 
His is a life which will command attention, and will be 
more appreciated as men devote themselves to its study. 

In the following pages attention is especially given to 
the events of the earlier years of his life, in the hope of 
interesting the young. We trust that this class of readers 
will find pleasure, and profit, in following the career of one 
who began life in a humble station, and attained an emi- 
nence in the world of letters, equalled only by the signal 
services he rendered to his native country, and the extensive 
work he wrought for the reformation of the church. In 
each aspect of his life Zwingli presents a bold and striking 
figure, well calculated to arrest the attention of American 
youth ; and one withal, from the study of which, they can 
gain inspiration for future effort. There was a lofty, intre- 
pid, and noble spirit planted in this Swiss youth, which 
always brought him in the fore-front of every conflict, and 
rendered his career one of incident and danger. 

The recent celebration of the anniversary of Luther's 
birth-day will naturally suggest a comparison between the 

3 



4 PREFACE. 

two Reformers. The cause of the Reformation of the six- 
teenth century, in which both Luther and Zwingli labored 
co-ordinately, and, at the first, without any knowledge of 
each other's views and efforts, sheds a great lustre upon 
their works and characters. So far from appearing as rivals, 
they are to be regarded as co-workers in a common cause. 
Each one worked in his own way, and, by study and prayer, 
reached his own conclusion. Luther stood forth promi- 
nently as the Reformer of Germany, a nation with extensive 
historic connections, which afforded him the support of 
Electors and Princes, and speedily spread abroad his fame 
in other countries. 

Zwingli's field of operation, on the other hand, was con- 
fined chiefly to Switzerland, his native country ; he had only 
the town-council of Zurich, to defend him, while, for many 
years, his powerful enemies lay in wait to cut him off. 
Under these circumstances, the extensive work wrought by 
the great Swiss Reformer, appears the more remarkable and 
praiseworthy. Protestantism owes him a greater debt than 
it has ever yet acknowledged; and hereafter when men 
begin to search for the first beginnings of a pure Reformed 
doctrine, and the cultus of nearly the whole Protestant 
church, they will be led to wonder how it was that the 
pastor of Zurich anticipated what the future generations 
would adopt as the restored form of primitive Christianity. 

Philadelphia, January 1st, 1884. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE. 

WILDHAUS 7 

CHAPTER II. 
BEGINNING LIFE 13 

CHAPTER III. 

GOING TO SCHOOL 23 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE YOUNG PRIEST AT GLARUS 37 

CHAPTER V. 

WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS 48 

CHAPTER VI. 

FOES NEARER HOME 58 

CHAPTER VII. 

LIFE AT THE HERMITAGE OF EINSIEDELN • 71 

5 



6 CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER VIII. 

PAGE. 

PREACHING TO PILGRIMS AT EINSIEDELN 84 

CHAPTER IX. 
A CONFLICT WITH SAMSON 97 

CHAPTER X. 

FROM THE HERMITAGE TO THE CITY 107 

CHAPTER XI. 

A NEW STYLE OF PREACHING 117 

CHAPTER XII. 
SHADOWS AND SORROWS 130 

CHAPTER XIII. 
BRAVE EFFORTS FOR REFORM 144 

CHAPTER XIV. 
DANGER AND DEFENCE 153 

CHAPTER XV. 

MEETING WITH LUTHER 164 

CHAPTER XVI. 

DEATH AT CAPPEL 174 



THE MOUNTAIN BOY 

OF 

WILDHAUS. 



A L.IFE OF TJXRXC ZWINGUL. 



CHAPTER I. 



WILDHAUS. 

Near the source of the majestic river, called 
by the Swiss and German people, " Father 
Rhine/' there still stands a primitive-looking 
structure, perched against a spur of Mt. Sentis, 
known as the home of Zwingli. It is a plain 
but massive building, erected evidently for endu- 
rance, and intended as a safe shelter from the 
roaring Alpine winds which, during the long 
winter nights, sweep over the place. And here 
this ancient-looking dwelling has maintained its 
position, during the long, and eventful, years 
which have transpired since the days when a 
bright and promising boy played there nearly four 
hundred years ago. The building doubtless has 
been renewed many times ; meanwhile the origi- 

7 



8 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

rial timbers may have all fallen into decay, and 
yet the identity of the structure remains, the 
same general aspect has been preserved, and to 
this day it is called by the name of Zwingli. 

Not far away from this ancient structure the 
traveler may see the church-spires of the little 
village of Wildhaus. This village is rightly 
named; for it is a " Wild-house " indeed. Sit- 
uated far up among the rugged Alps, on the 
water-shed which divides the waters of the Thur 
from those of the Rhine, it presents a bold figure 
in the landscape. Every year many tourists 
pass through Wildhaus, all of whom are charmed 
with its mountain prospects, and linger, with 
pleasure, around the place where the Alp scenery 
is so magnificent. 

Before we trace the interesting; career of the 
subject of our sketch, let us tarry, for a few mo- 
ments, here to view the place of his birth. Wild- 
haus has a sightly situation, and we may be 
enabled to gain new views of our subject by 
glancing at its environment. First of all we 
notice the magnificent mountain called Sentis,, 
This is now in the direct route of modern tour- 
ists, and therefore we can well afford to give it 
more than passing notice. Sentis stands just to 
the north of Wildhaus, and as it rears its snow- 



WILDHAUS. y 

crowned head 8,000 feet above the level of the 
sea, appears like an ancient sentinel keeping 
guard over the little village, which clings, like 
an eagle's nest, to its southern slope. From the 
summit of Sentis one may look over the greater 
part of north-east and east Switzerland ; em- 
bracing the lake of Constance, Swabia and Ba- 
varia, the Tyrolese mountains, the Grisons, and 
the Alps of Glarus, and of Bern. Just behind 
the mountain, on the north, lies St. Gaul ; where, 
in former times, was a noted monastery named 
after its founder ; who was, according to tradi- 
tion, originally a missionary from Scotland, or 
the north of Ireland. He came into this region 
of country when the whole of Switzerland was 
a wilderness inhabited by the rude ancestors of 
the Swiss and Germans, who, before this, were 
idolaters ; and to whom he taught the truths of 
the Christian religion. 

It was the seventh century when St. Gaul, in 
company with the missionary Columban, first 
appeared in the country. 

Both missionaries labored together in another 
part of Switzerland for some time, but when, 
afterward, persecutions arose against their work, 
Columban went to Italy and labored there. But 
St. Gaul resolved to continue, and for this pur- 



10 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

pose came into the region of country surround- 
ing Mt. Sentis, and, in company with a deacon 
named Hiltibad, searched for a suitable location 
in which to establish a mission. At the first 
Hiltibad was fearful that their work would be 
in vain; and warned the missionary that he 
would be in constant danger, for the forests were 
filled with wolves and bears. But St. Gaul only 
replied : " If the Lord be for us who can be 
against us ? He who protected Daniel, when he 
was in the lion's den, will surely protect me." 
The two then traveled on together until they 
came to a place where the river Steinach, as 
it rushed down from the mountain heights, had 
hollowed out a deep place, abounding in fish. 
Here the good deacon, in imitation of the early 
disciples, cast in his net, and obtained an abund- 
ant supply of the finny tribe. It was at this 
place that St. Gaul then resolved to center his 
work for the cause of God ; and here, afterwards, 
sprang up the monastery which lasted for many 
centuries, bearing the name of its famous founder. 
Standing still upon the summit of Sentis we 
can see the waters of the lake of Constance be- 
hind St. Gaul ; and far beyond, in the north- 
east, may be seen the white peaks of the Tyro- 
lese mountains. 



WILDHAUS. 11 

Turning now to the north, and west, we 
may see the beautiful valley of the Toggen- 
burg, down which rushes the rapid Thur. And 
at the head of the valley, beside the springs 
which are its perennial source, clinging, as it 
were, to the side of old Sentis, stands the cottage 
in which we are now specially interested, where 
Zwingli was born. Looking beyond this point, 
only a few miles farther towards the south- 
west, we note the tranquil waters of the lake of 
Wallenstadt, or " Wallensee," as it was formerly 
called. It is twelve miles in length and three 
in width ; at the east end of it lies the village of 
Wallenstadt, and at the west end stands the 
beautiful town of Wesen, also famous in Refor- 
mation circles, in after times. Still farther 
northward, and over fifty miles from Wildhaus, 
stands the stately city of Zurich, where Zwingli 
in after years wrought his greatest work of re- 
formationc A little to the south of this, and 
across the lake of Zurich, stands Einsiedeln, 
another point made famous by the early labors 
of Zwingli. And still farther away, on the hori- 
zon of the south-west, lie the cities of Bern and 
Basel, where Zwingli once pursued his studies. 
We only add that to the eastward, a few 
miles distant from Wildhaus, flow swiftly on- 
ward the clear blue waters of the upper Ehine. 



12 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

Thus we notice that the location of our little 
village is very picturesque and charming. 
Perched upon the southern face of a lofty moun- 
tain, which rears its snow-clad summit against 
the blue Alpine sky ; with chains of lakes and 
running streams so connected as to form a vast 
surrounding triangle; reaching from Zurich on 
the west by the way of the Zurich and Wallen- 
stadt lakes, to the river Rhine on the east ; 
thence to the lake of Constance on the north- 
east, and by another reach of the Ehine back 
again to Zurich. This vast triangular section 
of country, framed about with lakes of the 
utmost picturesqueness and beauty, tied together 
with silver-threaded rivulets ; with its hoary 
peak of Sentis in the center, subdivided by the 
wild, and rapid torrent of the Thur which sweeps 
away northward through the valley of the Tog- 
genburg, fed as it is by the fountains at Wild- 
haus, and the glacier on Mt. Sentis : all this 
forms a landscape at once bold and beautiful. 
This was a suitable spot for the birth-place of 
the great Swiss Reformer ; for here nature has 
displayed her grandeur in unusual form. And 
on these Alpine heights God raised up stalwart 
sons, who, in after times, fought the world's 
battle of conscience and intellectual freedom. 



DUA 







< 

Q 



CHAPTER II. 

BEGINNING LIFE. 

lN"a plain, but substantial, dwelling located 
on the green meadow which stretches along the 
right hand side of the highway leading out of 
Wildhaus towards the east, as has been already- 
intimated, we recognize the birth-place of the 
great Reformer, In the latter half of the fif- 
teenth century there lived here at the border of 
the village of Wildhaus, surrounded by their nu- 
merous flock of children, a respectable and pious 
couple, Huldreich Zwingli and Margaritha, 
whose maiden name was Meili. Through the 
esteem in which this man was held by his fel- 
low-citizens, he had been raised to the honored 
position of Amman, or Magistrate of the village. 

This honor they had placed upon him as soon 

as they had obtained the authority, to elect 

their magistrate, their judges, and their pastor. 

In former years the people were not allowed 

this privilege. But after long continued agita- 

13 



14 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

tion, they had succeeded in wresting the right 
from the Abbot of St. Gaul, who in former times 
had despotic authority over all this section of 
country. In its church government Wildhaus 
had been under the control of Gams ; but in this 
relation it had also been freed from foreign rule, 
and had been raised to the position of an inde- 
pendent community. In the first exercise of 
this privilege the people had elected Bartholo- 
mew Zwingli, the brother of the Magistrate, 
their pastor. Thus we see that the Zwingli 
family held a high place in the esteem of the 
Wildhausers. Besides this, John Meili, a 
brother of the Magistrate's wife, was the honored 
abbot of Fischingen. 

The family of the Magistrate consisted of 
eight sons and two daughters. Ulric, the third 
son, of whom we are now to hear at length, was 
born on the first day of January, 1484, seven 
weeks after Luther's birth-day. Though his fa- 
ther was the chief man of the village, little Ulric 
was not to be reared in luxury. The Magis- 
trate's house was only a plain farmer's dwelling. 
Rough timbers composed its walls, and its roof 
was secured by the weight of great stones laid 
upon it, to keep it in place against the fury of 
the winds. This house, however, was the home 



BEGINNING LIFE. 15 

of a pious couple, and here many happy hours 
were spent by the children, who shared in the 
innocent joys of a Christian household. 

The parents lived in freedom and truth with 
one another. The wife and mother was honored 
not only by her ten children, but also by the 
villagers, and by the serving-maids and boys, 
who dwelt with them, and attended to the wants 
of the household and cultivated the meadow- 
land, or followed the herds and flocks, to their 
pasture on the Alpine heights. It was the cus- 
tom then, to tell the stories of the olden times 
to the children during the long winter evenings ; 
and the father would often sit, with a neighbor, 
at the fireside, and relate the traditions of the 
Toggenburg valley. This valley was associated 
with many events of early Swiss history; when 
the inhabitants had to secure themselves against 
the inroads of Charles the Bold, by joining the 
brave confederates who rolled back the enemy 
like avalanches from their mountain steeps. 

To these stirring tales, young Ulric was one 
of the most eager listeners. The stories fell like 
living sparks of fire on his soul, and in the age 
of manhood they burst forth into an ardent love 
of home and native country. 

The following poem of Schiller, will give an 



16 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

idea of what these stories were like. A brave 
Knight of Toggenburg, finding that the lady of 
his choice has entered a convent : 

" Springs upon his steed ; 
Summons every faithful vassal 
From his Alpine home ; 
Binds the cross upon his bosom, 
Seeks the Holy Tomb." 

There full many a deed of glory 

Wrought the hero's arm ; 
Foremost still his plumage floated, 

Where the foemen swarm ; 
Till the Moslem, terror-stricken, 

Quailed before his name ; — 
But the pang that wrings his bosom, 

Lives at heart the same. 

One long year he bears his sorrow, 

But no more can bear ; 
Rest he seeks, but finding never, 

Leaves the army there ; 
Sees a ship by Joppa's haven, 

Which, with swelling sail, 
Wafts him where his lady's breathing, 

Mingles with the gale. 

At her father's castle-portal, 

Hark ! his knock is heard : 
See ! the gloomy gate uncloses 

With the thunder word : 
11 She thou soek'st is veiled forever, 

Is the bride of heaven ; 
Yester-eve the vows were plighted — 

She to God is given." 



BEGINNING LIFE. 17 

Then his old ancestral castle 

He forever flees ; 
Battle-steed and trusted weapon, 

Never more he sees. 
From the Toggenburg descending 

Forth unknown he glides ; 
For the frame once sheathed in iron 

Now the sackcloth hides. 

There beside that hallowed region, 

He hath built his bower, 
Where from out the dusky lindens, 

Looked the convent-tower ; 
Waiting from the morning's glimmer 

Till the day was done, 
Tranquil hope in every feature, 

Sat he there alone. 
If that form looked forth so lovely, 
******* 

If the sweet face smiled, 
Down into the lonesome valley, 

Peaceful, angel mild. 
There a corse they found him sitting, 

Once when they returned, 
Still his pale and placid features, 

To the lattice turned." 

At other times Ulric would listen to the ac- 
counts given by his pious Grandmother, of still 
earlier periods, when the godly missionaries first 
penetrated into the dense forests of that region 
of country ; men like the holy Felix and Reg- 
ula, who went through the land, and taught the 

people the Word and cross. Then again she 

2 



18 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

told the stirring Bible stories, the adventures 
of the patriarchs, or prophets ; or told of Him 
who hung upon Calvary's cross that He might 
be a Saviour to perishing sinners. At such 
times the little Ulric was always an eager 
listener ; his beaming eye and heaving breast 
testified that, in one heart at least, the Word of 
God was finding a ready response ; a response 
which should not be completely fulfilled until 
when, in after years, he should become a true 
minister of the Gospel of Christ. 

Thus the childhood of Zwingli passed away. 
In this homely but cheerful dwelling was often 
heard the sweet strain of some musical instru- 
ment ; and there during those long winter even- 
ings, Ulric used to try his hand at the wild 
Alpine melodies which to this day delight the 
traveler who may chance to pass through the 
land. These youthful efforts were the alphabet 
of that elaborate musical culture, which dis- 
tinguished him in after years, and enabled him 
in part to accomplish his great work in the world, 
in behalf of culture and religion. But beyond 
this he displayed such gifts, that every one 
marked his wise and thoughtful spirit, which 
from the first distinguished him from the other 
children of the Magistrate's family. 



BEGINNING LIFE. 19 

From early years he was a great lover of 
nature. The language in which God speaks to 
the inhabitants of the mountain regions seemed 
to move his young spirit. In after years his 
friend Oswald Myconius wrote : " I have often 
thought, in my simplicity, that from these sub- 
lime heights, which stretch up towards heaven, 
he has learned something heavenly and divine." 

When the spring opened, each year, the older 
sons and serving boys, hastened to lead the 
herds, and flocks, away to the mountain pastures. 
Usually in the first days of May, as soon as the 
mountains put on their coats of green, the cattle 
are driven up, amid the merry tinkling of bells, 
to the higher pastures, and ever higher and 
higher, a part of the inhabitants continue to 
ascend until, at the end of July, the loftiest 
heights of Sentis are reached. The younger 
children, who are left at home during the sum- 
mer-time, to attend to the affairs of the house, 
and to gather the provender for the cattle during 
winter, sometimes hasten up the mountain steeps 
to celebrate with their companions, who are 
tending the flocks, merry pastoral sports, in 
which the joyous notes of song mix themselves 
with the simple tone of the Alpine horn. 

As years passed on Ulric would naturally have 



20 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

more liberty accorded to him, in which he could 
observe the grandeur and beauty of the outlying 
Alpine world, and begin to meditate on its mys- 
teries. And thus there first awoke in his mind 
the sense of the awful grandeur, and majesty, of 
God, — a sentiment which in after years was des- 
tined to give him almost indomitable courage in 
the great conflicts through which he was to 
pass. In the solitude of the mountains, broken 
only by the bells of his pasturing flocks, the re- 
flective boy mused on the wisdom of God, which 
reveals itself in all creatures. Inspired by these 
musings doubtless he was led in after years to 
compose a work on " The Providence of God.'' 
In this work he alludes to the sagacity of the 
little mice, which he had often watched in child- 
hood days ; and discourses delightfully on the 
cunning little harvesters, as they make wagons 
of each other, and forks, by rolling the hay 
along, and using each other for hurdles in order 
to carry the hay to their winter nests. 

Then he rises to higher planes of thought and 
says: "Do not even the things without sense 
and intelligence manifest that the power, the 
goodness, the renewing and sustaining energy 
of God is present with them ? The earth, for 
example, the mother of us all, never shuts 



BEGINNING LIFE. 21 

ruthlessly her rich treasures within herself; she 
heeds not the wounds made on her by spade or 
share. The dew, the rain, the rivers, all moisten, 
restore, quicken within her that which had been 
brought to a stand still in growth by drought, 
and its after thriving testifies wondrously of the 
divine power. The mountains too, these gigan- 
tic, rude, inert masses, which give to the earth, 
as the bones to the flesh, solidity, form, and con- 
sistency, which render impossible or at least- 
difficult, the passage from one place to another, 
which although heavier than the earth itself, 
yet soar far above it, and never sink ; do they 
not proclaim the imperishable might of Jehovah, 
and speak forth the whole volume of his majesty ? 
In those works of God we behold proofs of the 
divine existence, and of the power, which sustains 
them all in being, not less than man himself." 

To one thus familiar with the grandeur of 
Alpine scenery, from his youth, the love of that 
which is grand, and beautiful, must have pro- 
duced a lasting influence on his spirit. And he 
could doubtless say of his own " Sentis " what 
Coleridge, in his matchless " Hymn " says of 
Mt. Blanc: 

u dread and silent Mount ! I gazed upon thee, 
Till thou, still present to the bodily sense, 



22 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

Didst vanish from my thought ; entranced in prayer 

I worshipped the Invisible alone. 

Yet, like some sweet beguiling melody, 

So sweet, we know not we are listening to it, 

Thou, the meanwhile, wast blending with my Thought, 

Yea with my Life and Life's own secret Joy : 

Till the dilating soul, enrapt, transfused, 

Into the mighty vision passing — there, 

As in her natural form, swelled vast to Heaven!" 

II Thou too, hoar Mount ! with thy sky-pointing Peaks, 
Oft from whose feet the Avalanche, unheard, 

Shoots downward, glittering through the pure Serene 

Into the depth of Clouds, that veil thy breast — 

Thou too, again, stupendous Mountain ! thou 

That as I raise my head, awhile bowed low 

In adoration, upward from thy Base 

Slow travelling with dim eyes suffused with tears, 

Solemnly seemest, like a vapoury cloud, 

To rise before me — Rise, ever rise, 

Rise like a cloud of Incense, from the Earth ! 

Thou kingly Spirit throned among the hills, 

Thou dread Ambassador from Earth to Heaven, 

Great Hierarch ! tell thou the silent Sky; 

And tell the Stars, and tell yon rising Sun, 

Earth with her thousand voices praises God 



CHAPTER III. 

GOING TO SCHOOL. 

The time had now come when little Ulric 
was to leave the home of his childhood, and go 
out into the world in search of an education. 
The school privileges at Wildhaus seem to have 
been very indifferent. In many parts of the 
land, in those times, there were no provisions 
made for the regular instruction of the children ; 
but in some places there were schools taught by 
men who had only a smattering of learning, who, 
of course, could do little more than give the 
mere rudiments of a primary course of instruc- 
tion. In some cases older students, under the 
name of Lehrmeisters, traveled around, often- 
times with their wives, practising their vocations, 
and hiring themselves out for longer or shorter 
periods. An old painting, or two, still preserved 
in the Museum at Basel, exhibit the interior of 
a school-room. There the children are seen sit- 
ting, or kneeling, on the floor with their books, 

23 



21 the mountain boy. 

whilst the Master, with rod in hand, is teaching 
a boy at the desk, while the teacher's wife is 
seen teaching a girl in the opposite corner. 

In those schools the children and adults 
frequently sat on the same bench. Of course 
there was nothing like thorough knowledge 
among the masters, nothing like a division into 
classes, or a regular plan of instruction. Just as 
the natural talent of the teacher was greater or 
less, were the results better or worse. And yet 
such was the only education of a large majority 
of the people. Indeed thousands were destitute 
of even this. 

"Whipping w T as generally depended upon in 
order to preserve order, and to quicken the 
forces of intellect. The supply of whips was 
generally to be provided by the scholars them- 
selves. Once each year a holiday was observed, 
known as the " Procession of the Rods/' in which 
the pupils went out into the summer woods, and 
came back, heavily ladened with Birch-twigs, 
cracking jokes by the way, and singing : 

11 Ye fathers and ye mothers good, 
See us with the birchen-wood 
Loaded coming home again ; 
For our profit it shall serve, 
Not for injury or pain. 



GOING TO SCHOOL. 25 

Your will and the command of God 
Have prompted us to bear the rod 
On our own bodies thus to-day, 
Not in angry, sullen mood, 
But with spirits glad and gay." 

The course of instruction embraced, usually v 
three branches only : Grammar ; Music, for 
which the children should have been extremely 
grateful; and Logic, which could not have been 
of any great profit to their untrained intellects. 
Indeed the music must have been the redeeming 
feature of these primitive institutions. And it 
was what the Swiss children loved above all 
else. The bright, and quick intellect of little 
Ulric began to manifest itself very early. His 
parents noticed, with pleasure, the interest he 
took in all matters of education. His uncle 
Bartholomew, who was now the minister of the 
church at Wesen, had also drawn the attention 
of his parents to his qualities which would fit 
him to become a student. And so when he had 
attained his ninth year his father, one day, set 
out with him for the village which was some 
twelve miles distant, where his uncle resided. 
As this was his first journey away from home 
it must have been fraught with great interest 
to the youthful traveler. One who was very 



26 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

familiar with the locality thus describes the 
road. u He crossed the grassy summits of the 
Ammon, avoiding the wild and bold rocks which 
border the lake of Wallenstadt, and arriving at 
the village, entered the dwelling of the uncle, 
his father's brother. " You have put lofty ideas 
into Ulric's head/' said the father to his brother, 
u and now I have brought him, so that you may 
try what he can do/' " Eight gladly will I 
measure him," said the uncle. Then turning to 
the lad he said : "So you will now be a son to 
your uncle Ulric." And thus informally was 
the boy installed into his new home. 

When the young scholar began to look about 
him, he found that his lot was cast in a beautiful 
spot. Wesen as we have seen lies upon the hill- 
side at the western end of the beautiful lake of 
Wallenstadt, which is scarcely inferior to the 
lake of Lucern in mountainous grandeur. All 
along its northern side the mountains stand in 
serried ranks, in places almost precipitous above 
the deep blue waters. Did Ulric long to climb, 
once more a mountain steep, for a holiday, he 
had only to bound away up the steep sides of 
the " Speer," a romantic peak rising behind the 
village, and he would have a commanding pros- 
pect spread out before him. 



GOING TO SCHOOL. 27 

It is likely that the school which Ulric at- 
tended, in Wesen, was of the poor grade already 
mentioned. It is thought that the teacher only 
received as compensation what the scholars could 
beg for him in the streets, where they sang their 
school songs under the windows of the houses. 
Here the mountain boy of Wildhaus, as he may 
have been called, came in contact with boys who 
were guilty of deception and falsehood. From a 
child he had, what all noble natures have, a hor- 
ror at the thought of lying. He once said in 
after years : " Lying ought to be more severely 
punished than theft. Hypocrisy is worse than 
stealing. Falsehood is the beginning of all evil. 
Man most resembles God by being true. Glo- 
rious is the truth, full of majesty, commanding 
the respect of the wicked/' 

His uncle soon perceived that the Wesen 
school could do nothing more for Ulric. The 
scholar was already too far advanced for his 
teacher; some more advanced school must be 
found for him. After consultation with his 
parents, it was resolved to send him away to 
Basel. It was a great way from home to be 
sure ; an hundred miles at least ; and only slow 
methods of travel were known in that day. 

Basel and Geneva are the gateways to Swit- 



28 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

zerland. The one stands at the north-west 
angle, where the majestic Rhine issues forth 
from the glacier-fed springs and clear blue lakes, 
which ever supply his mighty current. The 
other stands on the less majestic Rhone, which 
opens a gateway through the mountains to 
France and the Mediterranean Sea. 

To this day Basel is noted for its schools ; 
even for its schools of theology. But when 
Ulric arrived there, the fame of the city, in this 
respect, was already well established, for its 
University, founded in 1464, was then resorted 
to from all parts of the west, by the youth 
who sought a liberal education. Besides this, 
Basel was noted for its publishing interests, 
which, at that time, were just beginning to be 
appreciated at something like their true value ; 
the printing-press had then, only been lately 
invented, and all learned men understood what 
a great advantage would result from having the 
printed texts of classical, and other works, used 
in the higher instruction given at the univer- 
sities. 

And then there were a number of learned 
men, like the Wessels, and Wittenbachs, and 
above all, Erasmus of Rotterdam, who were 
engaged in giving instruction, in the higher 



GOING TO SCHOOL. 29 

grades of learning, at Basel. However, the 
mounta;n-boy of Wildhaus is yet too young to 
avail himself of these advanced teachers ; and 
so he is sent to the Theodore school, an institu- 
tion presided over by Gregory Binzli, an excel- 
lent, not unlearned man, of a very amiable 
disposition. He took a great liking to Zwingli, 
who soon stood in the foremost rank among his 
school fellows, a master in debate, and the 
possessor of an extraordinary talent for music. 
Learned discussions, much in vogue in that day, 
among the doctors of universities, had descended 
even to the children of the schools. Ulric took 
part in them, and in contest with the pupils of 
other schools, frequently bore off the prize. 
His signal success in these efforts, it is said, 
aroused the jealousy of his seniors ; and his 
teacher, perceiving that his school was not 
adapted to the capacities of his pupil any longer, 
after three years, sent him home, with the ad- 
vice that he should be sent to a more advanced 
school. 

Ulric was now about 13 years of age. He 
was bright and vivacious, and his musical tal- 
ents began to develop themselves in an extraor- 
dinary degree, and to excite universal admira- 
tion. It could not be expected that his parents 



30 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

would now arrest him in his course of study ; 
and give him charge once more of their herds 
and flocks at Wildhaus. A conference was held 
between them and his uncle Bartholomew, as 
before, the result of which was that the lad was 
sent to school at a city nearly as far distant 
from home as Basel was. 

Preparations began at once to be made, and 
not many days had passed ere the mountain-boy 
was on his way towards the city of ' Bern, 
whither his parents had now resolved to send 
him. 

The city of Bern is said to have been founded 
in the year 1191, by Berthold Vth, who gave it 
the name " Baren," in German signifying a 
bear, because he had killed a bear on the spot. 
It is situated on the banks of the Aare, which, 
in the winding course it follows at this point, 
encompasses the promontory on which the city 
stands, on three sides. The modern city has an 
imposing appearance from a distance, and a 
nearer view discloses one of the best and most 
regularly built towns in Europe, as it is the 
finest in Switzerland. 

At almost every point the traveller sees 
something at Bern to remind him of the origi- 
nal bruin, which was slain here so many years 



GOING TO SCHOOL. 31 

ago. At one point lie will suddenly come upon 
two granite columns, formed by the sculptor to 
represent gigantic bears in the act of rearing, 
and ready to seize their prey. In another place 
bruin is seen, equipped with shield, sword, ban- 
ner, and helmet. A whole troop of bears go 
through a performance en the dial of the town- 
clock, two minutes before every hour. Images 
of bears are for sale at all the market stalls ; 
and a stranger is apt to think that Bruin must 
be the patron saint of the city. 

The people of Bern seem to have been a mer- 
ry race from the beginning. The scenery sur- 
rounding it is delightful ; the windings of the 
Aare give it picturesqueness, and a wild beauty, 
and in the distance one may see the ever 
majestic Alps. 

When young Zwingli came hither he entered 
the school of Henry Lupulus. His teacher was 
noted for his correct knowledge of the ancient 
Classics, and he soon infused a spirit of research 
and study in this direction, on the part of his 
pupil, Ulric, who was only too well pleased to 
pursue the studies marked out for him by his 
teacher. He was very proficient here, as he had 
been at Basel. The teacher had made a pilgrim- 
age to Jerusalem, and was accustomed to speak 



32 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

of Palestine to his pupils, as of a land of peculiar 
interest, because of its sacred associations. 
Under Lupulus Ulric acquired a flowing style 
in writing and speaking. He became a good 
scholar, not in the corrupt monks' Latin, but 
learned the highly cultivated, clear, powerful 
language, which had come down from classical 
times. He learned to speak Latin, he afterward 
said, better than he spoke his native tongue. 
He also became familiar with the history of 
the most celebrated Eepublic of antiquity, which, 
to the Swiss, themselves the citizens of a free 
country, was full of interest. 

Ulric also zealously applied himself to music ; 
and learned to play on all the instruments then 
known, including the lute, with which he ac- 
companied his singing. This attracted the 
attention of the Dominican friars, who were 
anxious to have him enter their order, that they 
might profit by his musical talents, and thus 
offset their rivals, the Franciscans. But the 
eye of God watched over the lad, and preserved 
him from the snares of these corrupted monks. 
His father and uncle heard of the danger which 
impended over him, and they recalled him home, 
to send him elsewhere. He was now prepared 
for the high school, and they accordingly de- 



GOING TO SCHOOL. 33 

cided to send him to Vienna, where a celebrated 
school was established. 

At this school the mountain-boy formed the 
acquaintance of two Swiss students, Joachim 
Von Watt, called Vadian, and Henry Loreti, 
who was sometimes called Glareanus, because 
he came from Glarus. The three Swiss youths, 
united in the bonds of close friendship, devoted 
themselves, with great success, to the investiga- 
tion of the sciences, and also continued the 
study of the classics. 

Ulric remained here for two years, laying in 
rich stores of learning ; when he was called 
home by his father about the year 1502. The 
desire to prosecute his studies, and also to apply 
the results of his industry, led him shortly after- 
wards to proceed to Basel once more. There 
he became a teacher in the school of St. Martin, 
and taught Latin with great success. Soon after 
this he placed himself under the instruction of 
the learned Thomas Wittenbach. His fellow- 
student, and intimate friend here, was one Leo 
Juda. The two young men devoted themselves 
to the study of the higher branches of learning 
with unwearied assiduity. Their eminent teach- 
er was not only well versed in the ancient lan- 
guages, but he added to this a profound ac- 
3 



34 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

quaintance with the Holy Scriptures. Out of 
the barren deserts of school-wisdom, destitute 
of all water, it was this excellent man's habit to 
lead his pupils to the living sources of God's 
word, and teach them to draw water from thence 
for themselves, and their flocks. " The time is 
not far distant/' said Wittenbach, " when the 
scholastic theology will be swept away, and the 
old doctrine of the church established in its 
room, on the foundation of the Bible. Absolu- 
tion is a Eomish cheat ; the death of Christ is 
the only payment for our sins." Such a seed- 
corn as this, found in the heart of Zwingli, so 
receptive of the true, a soil in which its roots 
struck vigorously, shot up strongly, and bore 
noble fruit at an after day. 

After hard study, the recreation of the two 
friends was vocal and instrumental music. 
Leo poured forth a fine treble, while Zwingli 
accompanied him on any one of the instruments, 
of which he was the acknowledged master. 
Thus were the graver labors of study relieved 
with a recreation at once useful and delightful, 
which afterwards did them good service in the 
pastorate. 

Soon after this Zwingli was honored with the 
degree, " Master of Arts," which he accepted, 



GOING TO SCHOOL. 35 

more out of deference to the prejudices of men, 
who weigh the learning by the title, than from 
any sense of its intrinsic worth. He at no time 
made use of the degree, being wont to say, 
" One is our Master, even Christ." 

But while he cared little for the titles that 
men honor, as expressive of high attainments, 
he honored learning itself. He was enthusiastic 
in his studies of the classics ; delighted in the 
poems of Hesiod, Homer, and Pindar, on the 
latter two preparing notes in the way of a com- 
mentary. He studied closely Cicero and Demos- 
thenes, that he might learn of oratory and poli- 
tics ; and he also loved the wonders of nature as 
reported by Pliny, Thucydides, Sallust. Livy, 
Caesar, Suetonius, Plutarch, and Tacitus, were 
all familiar to him. He has been blamed for his 
devotion to these great authors; as he thought 
that he discerned in them not mere human vir- 
tues, but the influence of the Holy Spirit. God's 
dealings, he thought, in olden times were not 
limited to the Holy Land, but extended to all 
the earth. u Plato, also/' said he, " drew from 
a source divine ; and if the Catos, Camillus, and 
Scipios, had not been deeply religious, could they 
have acted so nobly as we know they did ?" 
However, when the Word of God was afterward 



36 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

opened to him in all its fullness, these early- 
student views were greatly modified, and then 
he could truly say : " One is our Master, even 
Christ." And here ends the story of Zwingli's 
student life. He was always a student; he 
never relaxed his efforts for an extended cul- 
ture. And no fact is more surely established 
than that Zwingli was not only one of the best 
scholars of his time ; but also that he excelled in 
love of justice and truth. 



CHAPTER" IV. 

THE YOUNG PRIEST OF GLAKUS. 

It is sometimes difficult for us to realize that, 
400 years ago, there was no Protestant church 
in existence, and that there were but few persons 
then living, who thought that the church could 
be reformed. Since the days of Constantine 
the Great, who was Emperor of Rome and of 
all the east, and who came to the height of his 
power, at the time when the Council of Nice 
was held, A. B. 325 ; and declared that Chris- 
tianity was the religion of the State, the church 
of Rome had held almost complete sway over 
the various nations of Western Europe. The 
north-Rhine peoples who overran the Italian 
States in the fifth and sixth centuries, were them- 
selves captured by the religion of their captives, 
and embraced the Christian faith, acknowledging 
the Pope of Rome as their supreme Pontiff, and 
vieing with each other in their readiness to 
carry out his behests. For centuries this con- 

37 



38 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

dition of things lasted, until now, in the fifteenth 
century, when Luther and Zwingli were born, no 
other form of Christianity was ever thought of, 
beside that which looked to the Pope, as the 
Vicar of Christ on earth, and obediently placed 
the neck under his heavy yoke. 

The church, through its great prosperity, and 
almost universal sway, had become very corrupt. 
The Pope, it was thought, had power to pardon 
sins. The ministers were all called priests, and 
it was their chief duty to exhort the people to 
be loyal to the Pope, and the Cardinals, and 
other dignitaries ; and to come regularly to the 
confessional, and acknowledge to the priest what 
sins they were guilty of, when he would pro- 
nounce their full pardon. The priests were not 
allowed to marry; and on this account great 
abuses had crept into the church ; and it was 
well known that there was great impurity pre- 
vailing among the monks and nuns, who lived 
in the convents and monasteries. It is true 
that pure-minded persons like John Huss, in 
Bohemia, and Savonorola in Italy, and Wyclifie 
in England, and others had arisen from time to 
time, and testified against the abuses existing 
in the church ; but they w T ere only told to re- 
cant, and when they refused to do this, they 



THE YOUNG PRIEST OF GLARUS. 39 

were put to death. And so the reign of the 
Pope had become a reign of terror ; and though 
the Popes were often very evil men, yet they 
were to be obeyed, even at the perils of suffer- 
ing a martyr's death. 

Zwingli became a priest in the Komish church. 
The reader will not be surprised at this, when 
he remembers that this was the only course 
open, at that time, to any one who sought the 
office of the ministry. When there was but one 
outward organization, to which all the ministers 
and the people were obedient, the candidate for 
the ministry must seek permission to preach, 
through its authority. Zwingli was ordained 
to the priesthood, by the Bishop of Constance 
in 1506, one year previous to the ordination of 
Luther at Erfurth, in Saxony. 

During this year Zwingli received a call to 
be the pastor of the church at Glarus. He 
accepted the call, and at once made preparations 
to enter upon his charge. His invitation was 
the more acceptable because he was elected by 
the free votes of the community. He was 
encouraged with the thought that he had well 
improved the season of preparation. God had 
preserved him against gross declensions, despite 
the general wickedness and corruptions of the 



40 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

time. " I acknowledge myself/' are his words, 
" to be a great sinner before God, but I have 
not lived immorally, and on no occasion has 
cipline been exercised upon me." With a heart 
overflowing with gratitude for the divine direc- 
tion, he exclaimed, u God has granted me, from 
the age of boyhood, tc >te myself to the 

acquirement of knowledge, human and divine." 
And he resolved again to be true and upright 
in every situation in life in which the hand of 
the Lord might yet place him. 

It was near the close of the year 1506, when 
the young pri who had now reached hi3 
twenty-second year, set out from his childhood 
home at Wildhaus where he had been spending 
a short time with his parents, for his new ch: 
at Glarus. He had gone over once more the 
haunts of his childhood plays. He had looked 
up to the heights of Sentis and recalled the 
solemn thoughts cf his early years, when he 
used to think that the very mountains refle 
the presence and power of Jehovah. And on 
the preceding Sabbath he had said his first 
11 Mass n in the little church at Wildhaus, in the 
;nce of his father's family, thus formally 
announcing to his old friends minatk 

give himself to the work of the ministry for life. 



THE YOUNG PRIEST OF GLARUS. 41 

The solemn service concluded, the young 
Parson bade farewell to his father's household, 
and set out again from Wildhaus, and crossed 
the Ammon to Wesen, as he had done thirteen 
years before. How different life appeared to 
him now that he had mingled with the world, 
and penetrated the mystery that ever enshrouds 
the cloister and the academy to the aspiring 
youth ! Instead of being the untutored moun- 
tain-boy who visited his uncle Bartholomew, on 
the former occasion, he now comes to him as 
one who has passed honorably through the 
ordeal of hard study, and is admitted to equal 
honors with himself. 

Wesen was the market town of the people who 
dwelt at Glarus. It was onlv seven and a half 
miles distant, in a southerly direction, and thus 
only some twenty miles from Wildhaus. Hav- 
ing preached at Rapperschwyl, a town situated 
on the lake of Zurich, he went on towards Glarus. 
From Wesen he pursued his way along the 
banks of the Linth, by a path which here winds 
between high and rocky mountains, to his place 
of destination, which was the chief town of the 
canton. 

Before Zwingli could enter on his saorr-d 
office, he was destined to have a painful ex- 



42 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

perience of the system of corruption under which 
his country groaned. One Henry Goeldli, the 
descendant of an aristocratic house, who was at 
that time " Master of the Horse " to the Pope, 
and a boon companion of his holiness, appeared 
with a papal letter of investiture for the place, 
although he was already in the possession of 
several livings. The community of Glarus 
maintained their right of election with success ; 
yet Zwingli was obliged to indemnify the papal 
intruder with a sum of money, for renouncing 
claims that were totally groundless. 

Zwingli now devoted himself to his chosen 
pursuit. His charge was situated in a beautiful, 
though narrow, valley. All around were the 
lofty summits of the Alps. The village lay at 
the north-east base of the precipitous and impo- 
sing " Vorder-Glarnisch " over seven thousand 
six hundred feet in height; and at the south- 
east of the " Wiggis/' the barren grey summits 
of which formed a striking contrast to the fresh 
green of the valley. The " Haustock," ten 
thousand feet in height, formed the back-ground 
to the south, and at the west was the " Schild," 
over seven thousand five hundred feet in height. 
Thus as the mountains were round about Jeru- 
salem, so were there mountains, and much 



THE YOUNG PRIEST OF GLARUS. 43 

higher ones, around Glarus. The people at 
Glarus were hardy mountaineers. Some of 
them dwelt on the mountain side, and mined 
the slate and prepared it for market. Others 
dwelt in the narrow valley and prepared the 
celebrated Swiss cheese so highly prized in 
many places to this day. Among these people 
Zwingli was now to labor. He was profoundly 
sensible that the servant of God, in the care of 
souls, must apply himself unremittingly to 
serious study, if he would guard his soul against 
the inroads of a low worldliness, and if he would 
proclaim the truth to his hearers, with living 
conviction. 

What idea Zwingli entertained of the pastoral 
office, appears from the course he marked out 
for himself, and steadily pursued . " He becomes 
a priest," writes his friend Myconius,'' and con- 
trary to the usual way of priests, he yields him- 
self to his studies, especially to that of theology. 
Now he first rightly apprehends how much he, 
who is intrusted with the instruction of the 
people in divine truth, ought himself, before all 
things, to be furnished with theological know- 
ledge, and then to possess eloquence also, that he 
may be enabled to exhibit everything both truly 
and profitably, agreeably to the capacities of his 



44 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

hearers. To these studies he applied himself 
with a diligence of which there had been no pre- 
vious example in many years/ 7 

The diligence of Zwingli must have been re- 
markable, for beside the care of the church in 
the village, he had three other congregations, 
comprising nearly a third part of the canton. 
Yet with all his other duties he was unremitting 
in his devotion to his studies. The Roman 
classics he continued to read with diligence, 
chiefly that they might be useful to him in his 
acquisition of truth, and in the cultivation of his 
oratorical powers. "As for truth itself, he went 
for it," says Myconius, " and drew it, with 
untiring industry, out of the perennial stream 
of God's word. Although he knew Holy Scrip- 
ture, as yet only in the Latin version, he passed 
among his fellow priests for one who had a pro- 
found knowledge of the Bible. He well knew, 
however, and deeply felt, how small was the 
title he had to such a distinction. He was 
ambitious to excel in public speaking, and to 
this end he persevered in his study of the Latin. 
The great orators of antiquity, those masters of 
eloquence, whom he regarded as unrivalled, 
were ever present to him, and the desire burned 
within him to work, with the power of oratory, 



THE YOUNG PEIEST OF GLARUS. 45 

in Switzerland, and in the cause of divine truth, 
yet greater wonders than these had ever wrought 
by their eloquence in Italy. 

He now labored to establish a Latin school in 
Glarus, and to befriend many poor students who 
began, or continued their education there. He 
soon gathered around him a noble band of young 
men, whom he led on to the pursuit of an educa- 
tion, and to a high standing in the community, 
who might otherwise have missed their oppor- 
tunity for improvement altogether. Among his 
scholars was his younger brother James, whose 
education he superintended with brotherly affec- 
tion. As soon as the students were prepared 
for the high school he sent them away either to 
the high school at Vienna, where the friend of 
his youth Vadian had risen to the rank of pro- 
fessor and rector ; or to Basel where Glarean, 
also his friend, taught the high school, the ex- 
cellent man boarding the students himself, that 
he might the better watch over their education 
and morals. 

But wherever his students *went, they bore, 
engraved on their hearts, the memory of their 
first master, and maintained with him a corres- 
pondence of which the following is a specimen. 
Peter Tschudi wrote him from Paris : " Thou 



46 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

art to us like a guardian angel ; n and his brother 
wrote from another place : " Help, help me, that 
I may be recalled to thee, for nowhere do I like 
so well to dwell as near thyself." Their cousin, 
Valentine Tschudi, and Zwingli's successor at 
Glarus, wrote : " Can I ever cease to be grateful 
to thee for thy great benefits ?" " On every 
occasion that I return to my home, and lately 
in an especial manner, when I was four days 
suffering under fever, and again, when I left my 
books behind me in Basel, and when in my 
timidity I feared to be burdensome to thee, thou 
gavest me thy books, thy help, thy services. 
Ah ! the whole benevolence of thv soul over- 
flowed to me, and it was not in any general way 
that the rich treasures of thy learning were 
placed at my disposal, but with a special regard 
to my peculiar circumstances and necessities." 
Testimonies like these bear witness to the great 
kindness of heart which characterized the young 
pastor at Glarus. While evidences are also at 
hand to prove his undoubted abilities. The 
learned Erasmus- wrote to him from Basel : "All 
hail ! say I, to the Swiss people, whom I have 
always admired, whose intellectual and moral 
qualities yourself, and men such as yourself, are 
training." 



THE YOUNG PRIEST OF GLARUS. 47 

Doubtless this opinion of Erasmus was formed 
during the visit which Zwingli made to Basel 
in 1514. All the men of learning assembled 
round the scholar from Rotterdam, who seems 
at once to have selected Zwingli as the man who 
promised to be the glory of Switzerland. This 
visit had a great influence upon the youthful 
pastor of Glarus ; for here he met Myconius, and 
John Hausschein, afterwards called Oecolampa- 
dius, who was pastor of Basel, and a man of 
great learning also, and in sympathy with the 
reformatory views, held by the few advanced 
minds in the little coterie. It was at this time 
that Erasmus said : " We must seek but one 
thing in Holy Scriptures, namely, Jesus Christ." 
Zwingli returned to his mountain home, greatly 
strengthened by this conference, and filled with 
new views of the important duties of his pas- 
torate. 

With reference to the feelings with which he 
discharged these duties, he afterward wrote: 
" Young as I was, the office of the priesthood 
filled me with greater fear than joy, for this was 
ever present to me, that the blood of the sheep 
who perished through any neglect or guilt of 
mine, would be required at my hands." 



CHAPTER V. 

WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS. 

We are now to be introduced to other scenes 
in the life of Zwingli, quite different from those 
we have hitherto considered. It might be in- 
ferred that the life of the young priest at Glarus 
would be uneventful, being confined chiefly to 
those cares that commonly mark the experience 
of the country curate. Such however was not 
to be the case with Zwingli. Though he was a 
student from choice and inclination, yet the 
times in which he lived, and the interests of his 
country, called him forth from his limited sphere 
of operations in Glarus to participate in" the 
stirring events of war. 

The remote cause of this remarkable change 
in the life of the young pastor, was the influence 
of a noted dignitary of the Romish church 
named Cardinal Schinner. He was a man of 
extraordinary powers, who had raised himself 
48 



WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS. 49 

from the condition of herd-boy, to be Bishop 
Prince of the land, and a Cardinal of the Church. 
It is related that when he was a poor boy, at- 
tending the school at Sion, in the Valais, he was 
one day singing in the streets, for his bread, 
when an old man called him to him, and said : 
" Thou shalt become a bishop and a prince." 
The boy was filled with a burning ambition from 
that hour, and determined to fulfill the prophecy, 
if possible. He attended school at Zurich and 
Como, and thus became proficient both in 
German and Italian; and after ordination to 
the priesthood, rose rapidly in the estimation of 
churchmen, and soon attained distinction. 

Eumor had it that he was sent to Eome to 
obtain a bishopric for one who had been selected 
for that office ; but with a tricky heart, he asked 
the appointment for himself, and the Pope 
granted it, so that the messenger went home as 
the bishop of Sion. A man who could perform 
an act like this was sure to be engaged in unholy 
schemes thereafter; and when Louis XII, of 
France, was at war with the Popes Julius II, 
and Leo X, Schinner knew that each party 
would be glad to retain the Swiss in his service. 
Accordingly he offered his services to Louis, 
and named his price. The king remarked : "It 
4 



50 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

is too much for any one man/ 7 " I will show 
him/' replied the bishop of Sion, in a passion, 
14 that I am a man worth purchasing at any 
cost." From that time he engaged to act with 
the Pope Julius II, who received his advances 
with joy. 

By the year 1510, Schinner had succeeded, 
by his arts, in attaching the Swiss to the in- 
terests of the papacy ; so that these hardy moun- 
taineers, for absolution, some deceitful promises, 
and but a scanty pay, lent themselves as tools 
to forward the ambitious plans of the Popes. 
There was scarcely a man of weight in the 
country, whom this man had not gained over to 
the papacy, by the glittering bait of some post 
of honor, or other favor. 

The noble form of the talented pastor of Gla- 
rus, standing high in the esteem of his people, 
caught the eye of the artful bishop. Zwingli 
on account of his poverty, had not been able to 
purchase books sufficient to meet the demands 
of his thirst for knowledge ; here was a capital 
opportunity to take him in the papal toils. 
Schinner hastened to inform him that the Pope 
had set apart an annual sum of fifty florins, in 
order that he might freely pursue his studies. 
In return, Zwingli's talents and energies were 



WAES AND HUMORS OF WAES. 51 

to be devoted to the Pope. Had he acceded to 
this condition, the mountain boy of Wildhaus 
might well have climbed the ladder of papal 
promotion as high as the herd-boy of Wallis, 
the bishop prince and Cardinal, had done. 

Zwingli has this to say regarding his accept- 
ance of this offer: "I confess here, before God 
and all the world, my sin " (in drawing the 
above annual sum, which he did accept, and use 
conditionally): "for before the year 1516, T 
hung mightily on the Roman power, and thought 
it highly becoming in me to take the money, 
although I told the Romish ambassadors in clear 
and express terms, when they exhorted me to 
preach nothing against the Pope, they were not 
to fancy that I, for their money, should withhold 
one iota of the truth, so they might take back, 
or give it, as they pleased." The Popes and the 
Cardinal had more at heart the success of their 
policy than the victory of the truth, and so they 
left Zwingli alone for the present, with the little 
stipend which he expended in the purchase of 
books at Basel. 

In the meantime Cardinal Schinner and the 
Pope threw off all disguise , and began to re- 
cruit soldiers in Switzerland for the campaign 
against the King of France, who was making 



52 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

inroads on the papal territory in Italy. Eight 
thousand Swiss were persuaded by the Cardinal 
to enlist for the campaign. They crossed the 
Alps, and were marshalled with the papal 
army; but receiving scant pay, and being 
worsted by the French, they retreated in- 
gloriously to their own mountain home. They 
brought with them evil and dissipated habits, 
which resulted in licentiousness, violence and 
general disorder. The citizens arose against 
their magistrates, the children against their 
parents, the lands were allowed to go uncultiva- 
ted, and the shepherds neglected their herds 
and flocks. Luxury and beggary increased, the 
most sacred ties were severed, and the confed- 
eracy seemed in danger of dissolution. 

Zwingli could not help noticing the peril. In 
order to counteract the evil influences resulting 
from mercenary warfare he wrote and published 
a poem entitled "The Labyrinth ;" and another 
entitled : "A Poetic Fable concerning an Ox 
and several Beasts/' He described the mazes 
of a mysterious garden, where Minos had con- 
cealed the Minotaur, a monster half man and 
half bull, whom he feeds with the blood of the 
Athenian youth. He interpreted the Minotaur 
as the sin, the irreligion, and the foreign service 
of the Swiss which devour their children. 



WARS AND HUMORS OF WARS. 53 

A brave man, Theseus, undertakes to deliver 
his country. He meets, first, a lion with one 
eye ; it is Spain and Arragon. Next he meets 
a crowned eagle, with open throat ; it is the 
Empire ; then he encounters a cock with crest 
erect; it is France. But the hero overcomes 
them all; and at last delivers his country. 
Had the warning been heeded, it would have 
been well for the Swiss, but so great was the 
infatuation that the protest was unheeded, and 
great loss was the consequence. 

Another campaign was undertaken by Schin- 
ner in the early part of 1513, to cross the Alps 
and drive the French out of Lombardy. As the 
banner of Glarus was unfurled in this expedition, 
Zwingli was appointed, by an order of the magis- 
tracy, and in conformity with an old Swiss 
custom, to follow the army as a field preacher. 
At one sweep Lombardy was cleared of the in- 
vaders, and the Duke Maximilian Sforza rein- 
stated in his hereditary dominions, the duchy 
of Milan. After the fortunate issue of this cam- 
paign, a papal embassy, presented by the hands 
of Zwingli, the proud victors in the war, with a 
richly gilt sword and a ducal hat, emblazoned 
with pearls and gold, over which the Holy 
Spirit hovered, in the form of a dove. At the 



54 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

same time, the honorary title was bestowed 
upon them of " Deliverers of the Church P' 
The present was very welcome to the victorious 
Confederates, as well as the words which accom- 
panied it : " They may ask what they will, the 
holiest shall not be denied them." The greater 
part begged that they might be permitted to 
carry the image of the crucified Eedeemer on 
their banners : the men of Glarus desired to 
carry that of the risen Saviour. 

A second time, in 1515, the Swiss army once 
more crossed the Alps to fight against the 
French army, and Zwingli as before, accom- 
panied them as field preacher. On this occa- 
sion it was the policy of the French monarch to 
cast the seeds of disunion in the Swiss ranks, 
by bribing some of the leaders. He succeeded 
in dividing the Swiss host, and in inducing a 
part of it, by a treaty the terms of which were 
in the highest degree disgraceful to the Swiss, 
to return home. Zwingli, who penetrated the 
false game that was playing, and perceived the 
mischief that brooded over his country, raised 
his voice loudly against the treaty, in a sermon 
which he preached to the army, in the square 
at Monza, on the 7th of September. He ex- 
horted the assembled warriors to be true to 



WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS. 55 

each other — to union and watchfulness in the 
presence of their dangerous foe. " Had they 
followed him/' said his friend Steiner, who 
shared the dangers of the campaign with him, 
" much mischief would have been prevented." 
But the warning of their chaplain was unheeded; 
the treaty was signed, according to the terms of 
which, a part of the Swiss withdrew. 

A short time afterward the remnant of the 
army under the fiery exhortations of Cardinal 
Schinner, imprudently joined in a skirmish with 
the French. In this skirmish the battle of 
Marignano took its origin, in which the Swiss, 
on the first day, maintained the field with a 
tremendous loss ; but on the second day, being 
attacked by the French with fresh forces, they 
were beaten after a desperate stand, and forced 
to retreat on Milan. Zwingli himself, accord- 
ing to the reports of eye witnesses, displayed 
striking proofs of personal courage, both by 
word and deed. His intrepid but serious be- 
havior, as well as his sermons, breathing at once 
zeal in behalf of the truth, and love for his 
native country, won for him the hearts of all 
the better confederates. 

It has been regretted by many that Zwingli 
was led to accompany the Swiss army into Italy. 



56 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

It is indeed to be regretted that war has not 
yet ceased from the earth. But the causes of 
the war in Zwingli's time lay far beyond his 
reach and influence, and the only question left 
for him to decide, was whether he would con- 
form to the ancient custom of his country, and 
go with the soldiers from his own charge as 
their chaplain, or whether he would remain at 
home and continue his denunciations against the 
evils of a war engaged in with a mercenary 
spirit. 

It was represented to him also that this war 
was undertaken to reclaim the ancient posses- 
sions of the church in which he was a minister. 
Lombardy had been the home of the church for 
centuries, and the foe who threatened her was a 
civil power, which simply sought its own advan- 
tage without referenoe to the question of prin- 
ciple. France was no friend to the Swiss ; and 
as long as the church of Rome was the accepted 
church of Switzerland, so long would there be a 
foundation for her to call upon the Swiss for 
aid. 

To blame Zwingli for accepting the chaplaincy, 
at this time, and also subsequently, when he 
went with the troops from Zurich to the field of 
Cappel, would be like condemning the ministers 



WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS. 57 

who acted as chaplains in our own late civil war. 
War can only be justified when it is a necessity. 
And when engaged in it should be from good 
motives, either in self-defence, or to protect the 
weak and helpless. Zwingli preached a great 
deal on the subject, both before and after these 
campaigns, and in all his utterances he clearly 
distinguishes between the mercenary spirit of the 
soldier who is a hireling merely, and that of the 
patriot who fights in defence of his native land. 
This is well set forth in the poem alluded to 
above, in which he represents the confederacy, 
under the symbol of an ox, which was led astray 
by artful cats, though warned by faithful dogs, 
and by that means lost his liberty. 

" Where bribery can show its face, 
There Freedom has no dwelling-place. 
Freedom must stand by Bravery, 
Sheltered and guarded evermore. 
Amid the bloody ranks of war, 
Amid the fearful dance of death, 
Let gleaming swords drawn from the sheath, 
And sharp-edged spears and axes be, 
Thy guardians golden Liberty. 
But, where a brutish heart is met, 
And by a tempting bribe beset, 
There noble Freedom, glorious boon ! 
And name and blood of friends too soon, 
Are cheaply prized ; and rudely torn 
The oaths in holy covenant sworn.'* 



CHAPTER VI. 

FOES NEARER HOME. 

One advantage, at least, came to Zwingli 
from his visit to Italy. While at Milan he 
found time, after having attended to the wounded 
soldiers, to visit the library, and while there he 
came upon an old " Mass-book/' used in the 
time of St. Ambrose. It differed materially 
from the one that was then put into the hands 
of all the priests by the church, to be invariably 
used by them in the conduct of public worship. 
This led him to the following train of reasoning : 
" Either Bishop Ambrose, from whom the mass- 
book emanated, has made changes in the exist- 
ing one, without his being visited with censure, 
or the Romish ritual has taken its present shape 
since his time. In either case, it is evident that 
the liturgy of the mass is the work of man, and 
subject to change. The Word of God alone is 
eternal and unchangeable." 

One day Zwingli happened to be in the par- 

58 



FOES NEARER HOME. 59 

sonage of his friend parson Adam at Mollis, in 
company also with the pastor of Wesen, and his 
former teacher at Basel, George Binzli. Zwingli 
found another liturgy, two hundred years old, 
in which a sentence occurred which showed that 
at that time, both the bread and the cup had 
been given to the laity, though that custom was 
now discontinued. He called attention to this 
fact, and commented upon it. The inquiring, 
and investigating spirit of Zwingli led him to 
examine into the authority of the church for 
himself; he had always been an independent 
thinker. 

In the year 1513 he began the study of the 
Greek language, in order that he might be able 
to read the New Testament in the original. He 
acquired the language without any assistance, 
and in a short time. He extended his reading, 
in the Greek, to the writings of the Fathers, 
that he might learn their comments on the 
Bible. He said that he read the Fathers, " as 
one asks a friend what he means." And Myco- 
nius adds : "He perceived however that the 
Holy Spirit alone can give the true meaning of 
the Word which he himself has indited; and 
he looked up to heaven, for direction, wrestled 
with God in prayer, that he would bestow upon 



60 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

him the inestimable blessing of his Holy Spirit, 
and it was granted to him, ever more and more, 
to pierce into the sense of the Word." 

The Word of God now became his daily com- 
panion. In his studies he compared one passage 
with another, and interpreted the darker by the 
plainer, so that it was apparent to every one 
that heard him commenting on a difficult pas- 
sage, that not man, but the Spirit himself was 
his teacher. We cannot help admiring the zeal 
of Zwingli in the study of the Scriptures, 
especially when he devoted himself to the study 
of the Greek, without assistance, and with only 
the poor lexicons and grammars of that day, in 
order that he might understand the teachings 
of the New Testament. Such was his devotion, 
that he wrote in 1513 : " Nothing can again 
withdraw me from the study of the Greek/' 

One circumstance particularly, shows how 
zealous he was in his studies. He copied, with 
his own hand, in Greek characters, all the 
Epistles of St. Paul, that he might carry them 
about with him, and be able to consult them at 
all times. The manuscript was presented to the 
library of Zurich in 1563, by Anna Zwingli, the 
last of the Reformer's descendants. It consisted 
of forty-three sheets, in pocket form, with large 



FOES NEAEER HOME. 61 

margins which are filled with notes in a very- 
small hand, and was designed evidently for a 
pocket edition. 

Zwingli's spiritual life was greatly quickened 
at this time also. He read a poem of Erasmus 
his learned friend, whom he had met at Basel, 
in which the Saviour is represented as complain- 
ing that men do not seek all good from him, 
who is the source of all good, the Comforter, the 
Guardian of the soul. He then thought, he 
says : " Why do we seek help of the creature ?" 
His sermons now became more impassioned and 
earnest. Myconius says that he : u Now began, 
after the example of Christ, to denounce, from 
the pulpit, certain base vices, which were ex- 
tremely prevalent, especially the taking of gifts 
from princes, and baleful mercenary wars ; for 
he saw clearly that the doctrine of divine truth 
would never find an entrance until these sources 
of iniquity were closed. He proclaimed evan- 
gelical truth, without making any allusion to 
Romish errors, or with a very slight reference 
to them. He wished truth first to make its 
way to the hearts of his hearers, for, thought 
he, if the true be once comprehended, the false 
will be easily detected as such." 

But these utterances, as might be supposed, 



62 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

stirred up a tide of opposition against the young 
pastor. The custom of enlisting as soldiers for 
pay still went on, and the plain rebukes, though 
greatly deserved, were very unwelcome. Ene- 
mies began to circulate reports adverse to his 
character. They said that he had received 
pecuniary rewards himself; no doubt in refer- 
ence to the little stipend, formerly accepted by 
him, for the purchase of books. They tried to 
fasten upon him the charge of frivolity; no 
doubt citing his fondness for music, which taste 
never deserted him. When weary with the 
work of the pastorate, or of his profound studies, 
he would again resort to the recreation of his 
student life. Taking up the lute, harp, violin, 
flute, dulcimer, or hunting horn, he would pour 
forth gladsome sounds, as in days of old at 
Wildhaus, or when at school at Basel, when he 
used to make his room, or the apartment of some 
friend, ring again with the airs of his beloved 
country, accompanying them with his own songs. 
Whatever may have been the precise form 
which the opposition took, the animating impulse 
was an unworthy one, and yet it made the 
burden of the pastorate heavy to be borne. At 
last the opposition took the form of a charge of 
heresy. Notwithstanding his wise moderation 



FOES NEARER HOME. 63 

in general, lie had laid himself, in some measure, 
liable by agitating the cause of reform, both in 
matters pertaining to the church and state. In 
this he had only done that which was his bounden 
duty, nevertheless it furnished the pretext 
desired by his opponents. 

These foes nearer home, than were the Car- 
dinals or the French, will at last see the bold 
and learned minister, departing to a new field 
of labor. But before we follow him to his sec- 
ond charge, it will be well for us to ask whether 
Zwingli was an independent Eeformer at this 
time, or was a mere imitator of other men ; (e. g. 
of Luther,) who labored in other parts of Ger- 
many and Switzerland. That he had laid the 
foundation for (his work while in Glarus cannot 
be doubted. His discovery that the church fa- 
thers did not agree among themselves ; that the 
form of the Mass had been changed ; and that the 
Scriptures alone are the sure rule of faith and 
practice, were the entering wedges that would 
lead him very soon to break away from the tra- 
ditions and the abuses existing in the church. 

It was about the year 1516, that Zwingli 
arrived at the views here presented, which he 
afterwards reduced to writing as follows : " We 
see, thought I, the whole of mankind striving, 



64 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

their lives long, after the attainment of future 
bliss, not perhaps directed to this pursuit so 
much from any natural impulse as from the in- 
stinct of self-preservation implanted in us by 
the Author of our being at our creation ; yet 
the opinions are very various as to how this 
great end is to be obtained. If we go to the 
philosophers, we find them disputing on this 
subject in a manner which makes us turn away 
from them with a feeling of disgust. If we seek 
for a solution of the problem from the Chris- 
tians, we find here even a greater diversity of 
opinion than prevails among the heathen, for 
some are striving to reach the goal in the way 
of human tradition, and by the elements of this 
world (Col. 2 : 8) i. e. } by their own and human 
opinions, while others are relying entirely on 
God's grace and promises : both the one and 
the other, however, are equally urgent that 
those who come to them for consolation, should 
adopt their sentiments. 

While I was reflecting on this diversity of 
opinion in the earthen vessels, and praying to 
God that He would show me an outlet to the 
state of uncertainty it produces, He says, " Fool, 
dost thou not remember the Word of the Lord 
abideth forever?" Hold to this. And again, 



FOES NEAKEB, HOME. 65 

" Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My 
word shall not pass away." What is human 
perishes ; what is divine, is unchangeable. And, 
" in vain they honor Me, teaching for doctrines 
the commandments of men/' For this cause I 
put every thing aside, and came to the point, 
that I would rely on no single thing, on no 
single word, so firmly as on that which comes 
from the mouth of the Lord. 

I now began to weigh with myself, whether 
there were no means by which one might recog- 
nize what was human and what divine. Then 
the passsage occurred to me, all is clear in the 
light, in that light, to wit, which says : " I am 
the Light of the World, that lightens every 
man that cometh into the world ;" and again, 
" believe every spirit, but try the spirits, 
whether they be of God." Seeking for the 
touchstone of truth, I find none other but that 
stone of stumbling and the rock of offence to all 
who, after the manner of the Pharisees, set their 
own commandments in the place of God's. I 
now began to test every doctrine by this test. 
Did I see that the touchstone gave back the 
same color, or rather, that the doctrine could 
bear the brightness of the stone, I accepted it ; 
if not, I cast it away. And if any one brought 
5 



66 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

forward any other doctrine or threats, I said : 
u we ought to obey God rather than men/' From 
this time his watch-word was : " The Word of 
God the only reliable rule of Faith and Life ; 
and Christ our only Salvation/' 

Surely this was good Protestant doctrine ; 
and in attaining it Zwingli did not consult with 
flesh and blood, but with the Word of truth. 
Afterward his enemies said that he had bor- 
rowed from Luther. And to this he felt con- 
strained to make the following reply : " I began 
to preach the Gospel before a single individual 
in our part of the country ever heard the name 
of Luther. This was in 1516. Who called me 
a Lutheran then ? When Luther's exposition of 
the Lord's Prayer appeared, it so happened that 
I had shortly before preached from Matthew 
on the same Prayer. Well, some good folks, 
who everywhere found my thoughts in Luther's 
work, would hardly let themselves be made to 
believe that I had not written this book myself; 
they fancied that, being afraid to put my name 
to it, I had set that of Luther instead. 

Who then called me a follower of Luther ? 
Then, how comes it that the Pvomish Cardinals 
and Legates, who were at that very time at Zu- 
rich, never reproached me as Lutheran, until 



FOES NEARER HOME. 67 

they had declared Luther a heretic, which, how- 
ever, they could never make him ? When they 
had branded him a heretic, it was then for the 
first time they exclaimed, I was Lutheran ; 
although Luther's name was entirely unknown to 
me during these two years that I kept to the 
Bible alone. But it is part of their cunning policy 
to load me and others with this name. Do they 
say : u you must be Lutheran for you preach as 
Luther ;" I answer, I preach too as Paul writes, 
why not call me a Pauline ? nay ; I preach the 
Word of Christ, why not much rather call me a 
Christian ? In my opinion, Luther is one of God's 
chosen heralds and combatants, who searches the 
Scriptures with greater zeal than has been done 
by any man on earth for the last thousand years. 
u Therefore, dear Christians, let not the name 
of Christ be changed into the name of Luther, for 
Luther has not died for us, but he teaches us to 
know Him from whom alone our salvation comes. 
If Luther preaches Christ, he does it as I do ; 
although, God be praised for it, an innumerable 
multitude, much more than by me, and by 
others, have been converted to God through 
him, for God metes out to every man as He will. 
For my part, I shall bear no other name but 
that of my Captain, Jesus Christ, whose soldier 



68 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

I am. No man can esteem Luther higher than 
I do. Yet I testify before God and all men, that 
I never, at any time, wrote to him, or he to me, 
nor has anything been done to open up a corres- 
pondence, between us. I have purposely abstain- 
ed from all correspondence with him, not that I 
feared any man on this account, but because I 
would have it appear how uniform the Spirit of 
God is, in so far that we, who are far distant from 
each other, and have held no communication, are 
yet of the same mind, and this without the 
slightest concert. But I will not be so bold as to 
place myself by the side of Luther, for each of us 
works according to the ability given us of God." 
The candor and modesty of this language is 
worthy of the greatest admiration. Particularly 
is this noteworthy when it. is remembered that 
Zwingli was unexcelled in the classics, a constant 
reader of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero and Seneca; 
Valerius Maximus he committed to memory, and 
Pindar he placed next to the sacred poets. From 
his hand-made copy of the New Testament in 
Greek, before mentioned, he had learned the Epis- 
tles of St. Paul, so as to quote them freely from 
memory ; and yet so far is he from boasting, 
that he seems quite willing to have his brother, 
in Saxony, receive the greater honor and praise. 



FOES NEARER HOME. C9 

Mosheim, who is supposed to favor Luther in 
his writings, says ; in his History, Vol. III., p. 
39 : " The extensive learning and uncommon 
sagacity of Zwingli, were accompanied with the 
most heroic intrepidity and resolution. It must 
even be acknowledged, that this eminent man 
had perceived some rays of the truth before 
Luther came to an open rupture with the church 
of Rome." On this, Dr. Maclaine, the editor, 
in English, of Dr. Mosheim's History, remarks : 
" It is well known that Zwingli, from his early 
years, had been shocked at several of the supersti- 
tious practices of the church of Rome ; that so 
early as the year 1516, he began to explain the 
Scriptures to the people, and to censure, though 
with great prudence and moderation, the errors 
of a corrupt church ; and that he had very 
noble and extensive ideas of a general reforma- 
tion, at the very time that Luther retained 
almost the whole system of popery, indulgences 
excepted. Luther proceeded very slowly to that 
exemption from the prejudices of education, 
which Zwingli by the force of an adventurous 
genius, and an uncommon degree of knowledge 
and penetration, easily got rid of." 

But Zwingli himself sounds the true key-note 
to this whole subject, where he says : u I began 



70 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

before a single individual, in our part of the 
country, even heard the name of Luther, to 
preach the gospel." Christoffel, Zwingli's biog- 
rapher, says that the two Eeformers began their 
work of reformation at about the same time ; 
and this we think is the truth of the matter ; 
they began their respective labors for the eman- 
cipation of human hearts, and intellects, at 
nearly the same time, without any knowledge 
of each other's convictions or efforts. The full- 
ness of time had come, when God would purge 
the church of her corruptions and errors, and 
he called these two great and good men, with 
many others, to begin the work of Eeform. 

Christoffel beautifully adds : " The Spirit of 
God moved Luther, at one time like the awful 
tempest roaring in a forest of German Oaks ; at 
another like the Zephyr soft and gentle, scarcely 
agitating the leaves. On the soul of Zwingli, 
the Spirit of truth arose in calm majesty like 
the sun, slowly and majestically climbing the 
blue cerulean over some Swiss mountain ; he 
stood immovable in the storms that surrounded 
him, like one of his native mountains when the 
tempest swathes it round with its girdle of 
horrors, or the avalanche leaps from its side 
into the abysses beneath." 



CHAPTER VII. 

LIFE AT THE HERMITAGE OF EINSIEDELN. 

Westward from Glarus, and behind the 
Waggithal mountains, in a romantic valley, lay 
the village and Cloister of Einsiedeln. We are 
to follow Zwingli to this place which becomes 
the center of his reformatory work for some two 
years, before he enters upon his pastorate at 
Zurich. Feeling that his mission was now 
accomplished at Glarus, and acting on the advice 
of the Master : " When they persecute you in 
one place, flee to another/' he was casting about 
him, as to what course he ought now to pursue, 
when Providence opened the way for his engage- 
ment at Einsiedeln. 

The name of the place suggests its history ; 
the German word u Einsiedelei," signifies life of 
solitude — hence a Hermitage, or Cloister. Such 
an institution has been in existence here from 
the days of Charlemagne. According to tradi- 
tion, one Meinrad. Count of Sulgen on the 

71 



72 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

Neckar, built a chapel on the " Etzel," a pass 
some eight miles to the northward, and on the 
way to lake Zurich, about the middle of the 
ninth century. His reputation for sanctity, 
attracted such vast numbers of devotees to 
his cell, that he was compelled to quit it, 
and retire to Einsiedeln, where he founded 
the Abbey, in honor of a miraculous image of 
the Virgin Mary presented to him by Hilde- 
garde, Abbess of the church of Notre Dame at 
Zurich. He was assassinated in 861, and his 
murderers were discovered by two ravens which 
the holy man had tamed, and which hovered 
about the men wherever they went, croaking and 
flapping their dusky wings until the miscreants 
reached Zurich. The attention of the people 
was attracted by this singular circumstance, and 
the result was that the men were arrested, tried, 
and immediately executed. 

The reputation of St, Meinrad increased so 
lapidly after his death, that a Benedictine AKbey 
was founded on the spot where his cell had 
stood. The legend relates that when the Bishop 
of Constance was about to consecrate the church, 
on the fourteenth of September, 948, heavenly 
voices announced to him at midnight that the 
Saviour himself, surrounded by his angels, had 



LIFE AT THE HERMITAGE OF EINSIEDELN. 73 

already performed the ceremony. A bull of 
Pope Leo VII. confirmed the miracle, and 
accorded plenary indulgences to all who should 
perform the pilgrimage to " Our Lady of the 
Hermits." The offerings of the crowd of 
worshippers were a source of great wealth to 
the Abbey. The Emperor Kudolph of Haps- 
burg created its Abbot, Prince of the Empire in 
1274, and this dignitary lived in almost regal 
magnificence, exercising supreme authority over 
an extensive district. 

At the time when Zwingli was about to leave 
Glarus, Conrad of Kechberg was the Abbot of 
Einsiedeln, a man of generous impulses, and of 
great independence of character. He was a 
pious, excellent, upright man under whose 
monk's cloak beat as warm and generous a 
heart as ever throbbed under a coat of mail. 
In his youth he had been forced to join the 
monks, by selfish relatives, who paid him visits, 
now that he had risen to be Abbot-Prince of 
Einsiedeln. These visits were often made with 
the view of obtaining some favor in the gift of 
the Abbot. It is characteristic of the man that 
on one occasion he said to them : " You have 
stuck a cowl upon my head to my soul's risk 
and peril, and I must be a monk, while you ride 



74 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

about as country squires. But, my good people, 
since you have made a poor monk of me, don't 
come here begging anything, but just return 
the road by which you came.'' 

As might be expected from the character of 
the man, he held very independent views of the 
outward forms of worship, which in that day 
were honored as the grounds of salvation. He 
was once reproached by the visitors of the church 
for neglecting to say mass. He replied : "Al- 
though I am master here in my own convent, 
and could send you away with a very short ans- 
wer, yet I will tell you plainly what I think of 
the mass. If the Lord Jesus Christ be really in 
the host (wafer), I know not how very highly you 
esteem yourselves ; one thing I know, that la 
poor monk, am not worthy to look upon Him, 
not to speak of offering Him up in sacrifice to 
the eternal God. If, however, He be not present 
there, woe's me, if I hold up bread to the people 
before the Lord our God, and call upon them to 
worship bread. I shall, if God will, so act and 
so preside over my God's house that I may be 
able to answer to myself before Him and the 
world. As I have no need of you, please to re- 
turn the way you came ; you are dismissed/' 

He was also impatient of doctrinal discussions ; 



LIFE AT THE HERMITAGE OF EINSIEDELN. 75 

and once when Leo Juda was discussing some 
subject, at table, with the administrator of the 
Abbey, he exclaimed : " Let me put an end to 
your disputings : — I say with David, — i Have 
mercy upon me, God ! according to thy loving- 
kindness : Enter not into judgment with thy 
servant!' — and I want nothing more." In fact 
Abbot Conrad was more fond of the chase, and 
of his fine breed of horses than he was of the 
discussions of the priests ; yet he was an upright 
man, and his bluntness, was but the utterance 
of candor in an age when the church needed re- 
formation. 

As he was now advanced in years, he had 
appointed Baron Theobald Geroldseck admin- 
istrator of the Abbey. He was of a mild 
character, sincerely pious and fond of learning. 
He thought to elevate the standing of his in- 
stitution by calling around him a company of 
learned men; and hearing that Zwingli was 
about to leave Glarus, he invited him to Einsie- 
deln. Accordingly an agreement was entered 
into on the 14th of April, 1516, m consequence 
of which Zwingli undertook the office of preacher 
and pastor, assistant to the people's priest. 
Zwingli was not moved to leave Glarus for hope 
of temporal gain, for in his new capacity he was 



76 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

to receive only 20 florins at the quarter fastings, 
a trifle from the penny collections, and conies- 
sional, with the promise of a full pastorate in 
the future, while he enjoyed a free seat at the 
common table. 

He was moved to take the place therefore 
partly because of the French opposition already 
mentioned, at Glarus ; but more particularly 
with the hope that he would here have more 
time for study and conference with learned men, 
and be able to exercise a greater influence upon 
his fellow-men. When it was known that he 
was to leave Glarus, the greater portion of his 
people were filled with sorrow and regret. His 
enemies no longer spoke- against him ; and his 
friends gathered around him with the greatest 
enthusiasm. The people insisted that the pasto- 
ral relation should not be severed, and in hope 
that he might again return, his official standing 
was continued for some years, while the pastoral 
work was done by his vicar or assistant. 

It was under these circumstances, therefore, 
that Zwingli wended his way down the narrow 
valley of the Linth, through which he had 
passed ten years before, when he came to re- 
ceive this, his first charge. Arriving at the 
shore of Zurich lake, his way ran southward, 



LIFE AT THE HERMITAGE OF EINSIEDELN. 77 

over the Etzel pass, where once stood the hut of 
the hermit Meinard, and from thence down the 
mountain side to the romantic green valley of 
the Alpbach, where stood the stately buildings of 
the Abbey, which, for a time would be his home. 
Here Zwingli was received with open arms 
by Geroldseck, who with Francis Zink, and John 
Oechslin, were afterwards bound to him with 
the ties of a most intimate friendship. In this 
company, with time for study, conference and 
meditation, he made rapid advances in the 
divine life. His friends knew how to appreciate 
his scholarship, and soon imbibed his views 
touching the need of reformation in the church. 
He brought with him the settled conviction that 
the Word of God is the only sure directory for 
faith and practice, and Christ the only way of 
salvation. He experienced in his own heart 
how precious and dear that saying is : " Jesus 
Christ came into the world to save sinners." 
To his friends he gave the advice, that they 
should study the Fathers as he had done, for 
the better understanding of the Holy Scrip- 
tures ; yet he added : " With God's grace, the 
day will soon come, that neither Jerome, nor 
any other, will be an authority in matters of 
faith, but the Bible alone." 



78 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

The fruit of his teachings soon began to ap- 
pear. Geroldseck announced to the nuns in the 
cloister of Fahr, that instead of daily drawling 
over the mass-songs in their usual heedless 
manner, they were to read the New Testament 
in the German tongue ; at the same time, that 
those who felt themselves burdened by their 
vows, had liberty to return to their relatives. 
Those who remained were to lead, true to their 
vows, a virtuous and holy life. Accordingly, 
many of the nuns returned to their homes. 

At this time also, Zwingli made good use of 
his little pocket edition of the New Testament, 
which he had previously written out with his 
own hand, as already stated, in the Greek 
characters. Daubigne says : " He learnt by 
heart the whole of the Epistles ; then the re- 
maining books of the New Testament; and 
after that portions of the Old." Unlike Luther 
who came to his true religious experience by a 
shock, Zwingli seems, from the first, to have 
found light from his gradual, and growing 
acquaintance with the Scriptures. His former 
extravagant fondness for the classical authors, 
was now absorbed in his glowing admiration for 
inspired writings ; and even the writings of the 
Fathers became less esteemed by him, except as 



LIFE AT THE HERMITAGE OF EINSIEDELN.' 79 

they served to throw light upon the pages of 
inspiration. 

This period was to Zwingli what the life in 
the wilderness was to John the Baptist, or the 
sojourn of the prophet in Horeb was to Elijah, 
or, considered in an earthly point of view, what 
the forty days of fasting and temptation were to 
our Saviour. Here, in the Abbey, Zwingli had 
leisure to pursue those investigations which lay 
so near to his heart, and here he gave himself 
to study and prayer. He also prepared himself 
with care for the pulpit. He studied first of all, 
in the original, the section which the church pre- 
scribed to be read in Latin. He then commented 
upon the passage according to its sense, and made 
the practical application of it, without suffering 
himself to be fettered, in the least degree, either 
by the dogmas or the prejudices of the church. 

According to his own statement, Zwingli 
dated his conversion from the time he read the 
poem of Erasmus, to which allusion has already 
been made. In reference to that event he thus 
wrote in 1523 : " I shall not withhold from you, 
dear brethren in Christ, how it was I arrived at 
the conviction and firm faith, that we require 
no other mediator but Christ, and that none 
but Christ alone can mediate between Cod and 



80 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

man. I read, eight or nine years ago, (1514?) 
a poem of Erasmus, in which the complaint is 
made, that men do not seek all good from Him, 
who is the source of all good. Thereon I re- 
flected, why do we seek help of the creature." 
That was the dawn of his true religious ex- 
perience, and now at Einsiedeln, his convictions 
were deepened, and so his became the path of 
the just, " as the shining light, that shineth, 
more and more, unto the perfect day/' 

But as the light of God was shining upon his 
path it revealed to him the fact that a dark and 
da.ngerous superstition had spread itself over the 
Abbey of Einsiedeln. The tradition of that an- 
gelic consecration of the Cloister, in the tenth cen- 
tury when, at midnight, heavenly voices announc- 
nounced to the Bishop, that the Saviour himself 
with his retinue of saints had already consecrat- 
ed it, still held its power over the minds of the 
people. The image of the Virgin, said to have 
been presented to the monk Meinard, by the 
Abbess at Zurich, was exhibited within the shrine 
of the Abbey church, and believed to perform 
wonders for those who brought offerings, and 
prayed before it. They were taught that they 
would be forgiven and saved through Mary's in- 
tercessions. 



LIFE AT THE HERMITAGE OF EINSIEDELN. 81 

Over the gateway of the magnificent abbey, 
where every pilgrim, would not fail to see them, 
were inscribed in golden letters, these words : 
" Hie est plena remissio omnium peccatorum a 
culpa et poena." i. e. } u Here is full remission 
for the guilt and penalty of all sin." Daubigne 
says : "A multitude of pilgrims, from all parts 
of Christendom, flocked to Einsiedeln, that they 
might obtain this grace for their pilgrimage. 
The church, the abbey, the whole valley, was 
crowded on the occasion of the festival of the 
Virgin, with her devout worshippers. But it 
was especially on the grand festival of the 
angelic " Consecration/' that the crowd thronged 
the hermitage. Long files to the number of 
several thousands of both sexes, climbed the 
steep sides of the mountain leading to the ora- 
tory, singing hymns, or counting the beads of 
their chaplets. These devout pilgrims forced 
their way into the church, believing themselves 
nearer to God there than anywhere else/' 

We need not be surprised to learn that the 
spirit of Zwingli was stirred within him at this 
sight. He was now compelled to witness frequent 
scenes of this kind. It was not an easy matter 
to antagonize such an extensive custom of pil- 
grimage, and false devotion, as that which was 



82 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

firmly seated in Einsiedeln at that time. And 
Zwingli was to receive his living, in part, from 
the proceeds of this extensive patronage result- 
ing from the attendance of the thousands of per- 
sons, from all parts of the land, at the annual 
festivals. The reader has by this time learned 
enough of the character of Zwingli, however, to 
infer that no prestige of past custom, no thought 
of his personal interests would hinder him from 
speaking out plainly against these abuses. The 
extent of the evil, and the power of superstition 
in its aid, with which Zwingli had to contend, 
and which .he successfully arrested, may be in- 
ferred from the fact, that after his death, these 
pilgrimages to Einsiedeln were renewed, and 
are continued till this very day. 

In 1798 the greater part of the treasures were 
carried away by the French, but the monks had 
rescued the image of the Virgin, and kept it in 
the Tyrol ; and when danger was past, they re- 
turned with it to Einsiedeln again. Since that 
time, pilgrimages to this shrine have been re- 
sumed. In 1710 the number of pilgrims 
amounted to 260,000 ; it is now said to average 
150,000 annually. On nigh festivals an immense 
crowd flock hither from all parts of Switzerland, 
from Bavaria and Swabia, the Black Forest, 



LIFE AT THE HERMITAGE OF EINSIEDELN. 83 

Alsace, Lorraine, and even more distant regions. 
The greater proportion belong to the poorer 
classes, many of whom are paid for their pious 
services by the rich, who thus perform an act 
of devotion by deputy. With the exception of 
Loreto in Italy, Compostella in Spain, Mariazeil 
in Styria, Einsiedeln attracts more pilgrims 
than any other shrine. Like Delphi and Ephe- 
sus, in their day, this shrine has gathered its 
thousands of pilgrims, from generation to gen- 
eration. Over seven hundred workmen are 
daily employed in making relics to sell to the 
pilgrims, by one establishment; which traffic 
like that of Demetrius, who made silver shrines 
for Diana at Ephesus brings " no small gain to 
the craftsmen." Acts 19 : 24. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

PREACHING TO PILGRIMS AT EINSIEDELN. 

The modern tourist who visits Einsiedeln, 
will find a large open space between the houses 
and the church, in which stands a black marble 
fountain, surmounted by an image of the Virgin, 
from which the pilgrims are wont to drink. 
Under the Arcades, which form a semicircular 
approach to the church on the right and left, 
as well as in the square itself, there are numer- 
ous stalls for the sale of missals, images of saints, 
rosaries, medals, crucifixes, and similar articles. 
Within the church itself, in the nave, and sepa- 
rated from the rest of the building stands the 
chapel of the virgin, of black marble. This is 
the Sanctum Sanctorum, to which pilgrims pay 
particular reverence. A grate protects the 
front, through which, illuminated by a solitary 
lamp, a small image of the Virgin and Child is 
visible, richly attired, and adorned with crowns 

of gold and precious stones. 
84 



PREACHING TO PILGRIMS AT EINSIEDELN. 85 

Judging from the existing power which this 
shrine has over the minds of the more credulous 
members of the church of Rome ; and remem- 
bering that in the days of Zwingli this supersti- 
tion of the pilgrimage was at its height, we can 
imagine what a task lay before him if he should 
lift up his voice in opposition to the custom 
which so delighted the pilgrims, and brought in 
such large revenues to the Abbey. We must 
also bear in mind the fact, that in this year of 
1516, there was no general movement of reform, 
of which tidings had come to this part of Swit- 
zerland. It was not until the following year 
that Luther broke away from the papacy, by 
nailing his ninety-five theses to the church door 
in Wittemberg. If, therefore, Zwingli attacks 
the abuses of the pilgrimages, he does so with- 
out any evidence that he will receive any sym- 
pathy whatever, except from the little circle of 
his intimate friends. But on the other hand he 
knows that his Abbot, bluff old Conrad, has no 
heart in the miserable system, and he knows 
that right, and truth, are on his side. 

Zwingli was not a blind enthusiast; he felt 
the gravity of his position, just as much as Lu- 
ther did at the Diet of Worms. He had just 
as much at stake as Luther had, i. e., his life. 



86 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

And he thus wrote : " Once for all, the spirit 
must be so consecrated to God, that it may hang 
inseparably on right, truth, and God, even to 
the loss of outward means, and life itself; once 
for all the die must be cast, and death looked 
steadily in the face, for the truth's sake, and the 
soul nerved against every attack of the flesh, 
the world, and Satan." He accordingly raised 
his voice against the delusions here practiced 
under his eyes. Says ChristofFel : " His soul 
indeed, burned with a holy indignation at the 
dishonor done to the name of God, and the 
Saviour. He grieved for a people who, instead 
of finding forgiveness for their sins, entangled 
themselves faster and faster in the net of Satan." 
The same author gives an excellent account 
of Zwingli's preaching at Einsiedeln. u God," 
the preacher cried, " is everywhere present, and 
wherever we call upon Him, in spirit and in 
truth, He answers us in the words, Here I am !" 
Those then, who bind the grace of God to par- 
ticular localities, are altogether foolish and per- 
verse ; nay, it is not only foolish and perverse 
so to do, but anti-Christian, for they represent 
the grace of God as more easily to be obtained, 
and cheaper, in one place than in another, which 
is nothing but to limit the grace of God, and 



PEEACHING TO PILGKIMS AT EINSIEDELN. 87 

take it captive, not letting it be known how free 
it is. God is in every part of the earth where He 
is called upon, present and ready to hear our 
prayers, and to help us. Wherefore St. Paul 
says : ' I will therefore — that men pray every- 
where .... In like manner also the women/ 
1st Timothy, 2 : 8, 9, ' that is, we are to know 
that God is present, and hears us, when He is 
called upon, and that He is not more gracious 
in one place than in another.' " 

Of course the utterances of Zwingli suffer 
much through the medium of a translation, but 
the truths he proclaims, are unmistakeable, and 
they must have fallen with startling effect upon 
the ears of that people, who had been accus- 
tomed only to hear the efficiency of the absolu- 
tion, to be obtained just there, and the miracu- 
lous power of the image of the Virgin, extolled. 
Zwingli continued : " Christ calls such people as 
bind God to this, or that place, false Christians, 
that is Anti-Christs. ' There shall arise false 
Chris ts, and false prophets and deceive many,' 
Matt. 24 : 24. God, who else is a hypocriti- 
cal Christian but the Pope, who exalts himself 
in the place of Christ, and says he has his power ; 
so he binds God to Eome, and other sanctuaries. 
Thus they bring money in enormous quantities 



88 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

to enrich holy places, which in case of need, 
might well be applied to our temporal advan- 
tage. And just in such places is more wanton- 
ness and vice perpetrated than anywhere else. 
He who ascribes to man the power to forgive 
sins blasphemes God. And great evil has 
sprung from this source, so that some whose 
eyes the Popes have blinded, have imagined 
they had their sins forgiven by sinful men. In 
this manner God Himself has been hid from 
them. To ascribe to man the power to forgive 
sins is idolatry ! What is idolatry, but the as- 
cription of the divine honor to man, or the giv- 
ing to the creature that which is God's.'' 

Surely this was a bold utterance for any priest 
to make ; evidently he takes the risk of suffer- 
ing what Huss suffered, that is death. But he 
is not through yet ; he refers to the fact men- 
tioned in the Scriptures that the people at Lys- 
tra, would do sacrifice to Paul, and Barnabas as 
gods, to which they replied : " Sirs, why do ye 
these things ? We also are men of like passions 
with you. . . Turn unto the living God." " What 
think you, the Virgin Mary would say, if she 
were to witness this, that men sought from her, 
that which alone is God's to give? Think you 
not that she would say : * senseless, deluded 



PREACHING TO PILGRIMS AT E1NSIEDELN. 89 

men, all the honor I have comes from God ! 
He has been gracious to me, and made me a 
Virgin, and the mother among all women. But 
I am no goddess, nor any source of blessing ; 
God alone is that Fountain, who has ordained 
that all good should come to you through My 
Son. By attributing to me that which alone is 
Gods, ye poor mortals attempt to change the 
power and government of God. For verily 
since the beginning of the world, He has given 
to no creature such a power as that any should 
flee to it for succor as if it were God. I am no 
god, therefore seek not from me that which is 

God's alone to give." "The greatest 

honor of Mary is her Son,; it is likewise her 
greatest honor that we rightly know Him, and 
that we love Him above all things, and that we 
manifest our eternal gratitude to Him for His 
act of mercy in redeeming us. If ye will honor 
her then, follow her purity, and her steadfast 
faith. ,, 

This was the burden of Zwingli's preaching, 
at the festival of the angel-consecration, in 1517, 
and at Pentecost, 1518, before great crowds of 
pilgrims. Great was the impression it made 
upon the pilgrims. Some fled in terror from 
the scene, others hovered between the faith of 



90 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

their fathers and the doctrine that was to give 
them peace ; others turned to Christ with their 
whole hearts, and returned to their homes bear- 
ing back with them the tapers, and gifts intend- 
ed for the image of the Virgin. On their way 
they met many other pilgrims, on their way to 
the shrine, to whom they related what had ta- 
ken place ; and the doctrine of Zwingli, that : 
" Christ Alone saves us, and He saves every- 
where. 11 Pilgrims, as they heard this, turned 
back without bringing their pilgrimage to a 
close. The fame of Zwingli, the bold and un- 
compromising advocate of truth, resounded 
through the towns and villages of Switzerland, 
Suabia, and Alsace. " In truth," says Daubigne, 
u an universal astonishment took possession of 
men's minds at the sound of the eloquent priests 
sermons." 

Many learned men were drawn to Einsiedeln, 
to hear this new prophet in the wilderness, 
among \yhom was Dr. Hedio, then the preacher 
at Basel ; who heard Zwingli preach at the 
Pentecost festival, 1518, from Luke 5 : 24, 
" The Son of man hath power on earth to for- 
give sins." Hedio was so deeply affected by the 
discourse that he afterwards begged Zwingli to 
receive him into the number of hi§ friends, or at 



PKEACHING TO PILGEIMS AT EINSIEDELN. 91 

least to let him be the shadow of one. Of the 
sermon he wrote : "it was beautiful, fundamen- 
tal, dignified, comprehensive, searching, truly 
evangelical, reminding one, in force of language 
and of spirit, of the old fathers of the church/' 
Hedio longed to go to the preacher and open 
his heart to him ; he lingered about the Abbey 
without daring to make advances, restrained, as 
he tells us, by a sort of superstitious fear. 
Mounting his horse, he slowly departed from the 
hermitage, looking back on a spot which held 
so great a treasure, with the warmest regrets. 

The number of pilgrims was now greatly di- 
minished; that great stream which had been 
flowing to this spot for centuries, bearing with 
it the choicest gifts of the people, seemed to be 
suddenly checked. And it is recorded that the 
effect of Zwingli's preaching was, at one time, 
so great that the monks left their cells on the 
occasion of an anniversary festival, and the ab- 
bey was deserted for a considerable time. 

It was to be expected that a part of the monks, 
at least, would be indignant at the course pur- 
sued by Zwingli. This was indeed the case ; 
many of the monks were scandalized, but the 
Abbot, and Geroldseck protected and encouraged 
the orator. And Zwingli did not confine his ef-~ 



92 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

forts to the pulpit ; to Cardinal Schinner lie said : 
" Every one knows that, tlie faith and practice 
of Christians have, by a gradual declension, 
departed very widely from sound evangelical 
doctrine, and it is undeniable that, some very 
great reformation of laws and manners is abso- 
lutely necessary. If we do not give vent to the 
water, the dam will be broken in by force." 

To the papal legate Zwingli said : " I have 
both by word and deed witnessed to mighty 
cardinals, prelates, and bishops, of the errors 
in doctrine that are abroad, and warned and 
counselled them to remove abuses,, or that they 
themselves would perish in a more dreadful 
revolution. I have told Cardinal Von Sitten at 
Einsiedeln, (in 1519) ; and afterwards, in plain 
language, that the papacy has a false foundation 
and maintained it by unanswerable passages of 
Holy "Writ. And he replied, that if he was re- 
stored to power, he would see to it that the ar- 
rogance and fraud of the Bishop of Kome be 
brought to light, and put an end to. To another 
legate he said : " I am resolved from hencefor- 
ward to preach the pure Gospel to the people, 
without regard to the statutes of men, whereby 
without doubt, the papacy will not be a little 
shaken." 



PREACHING TO PILGRIMS AT EINSIEDELN. 93 

The natural inference would be, after reading 
all this, that the dignitaries of the church would 
proceed to silence the bold preacher. But it 
did not suit their purpose, to put him under 
banns at present. They needed his help against 
the French enlistments ; and they hoped to gain 
him back again to the papacy. Thus they pur- 
sued a directly opposite course from that pur- 
sued against Luther. As Zwingli was more 
moderate in his course, although equally as 
firm, he gave less offence to men's minds than 
the Saxon monk ; he trusted to the power of 
truth for the results. Far from denouncing in 
wholesale term% the dignitaries of the church, 
he continued long on friendly terms with them. 
They treated him with respect on account of 
his learning and talents, and also on account of 
the influence which they foresaw such a man 
would be likely to have in a republic. 

Daubigne says : " Eome sought to intimidate 
Luther by solemn judgments ; and to win Zwin- 
gli by her favors. Against one she hurled ex- 
communications ; to the other she cast her 
gold and splendors. They were two different 
methods for attaining the same end, and sealing 
the daring lips which presumed, in opposition to 
the Pope's pleasure, to proclaim the Word of 



94 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

God in Germany and Switzerland. The last 
device was the most skillfully conceived, but 
neither was successful. The enlarged heart of 
the preachers of the Gospel were shown to be 
above the reach of vengeance, or seduction. 

Zwingli was now the recipient of a new honor 
from the Pope ; he was created Acolyte-chaplain 
of the papal-chair. The grand document of in- 
vestiture ran as follows : " Distinguished by his 
virtues and great merits, he deserves, in the 
eyes of the Pope and the holy apostolic chair, a 
recognition of his great learning, and some dis- 
tinguished mark of paternal approbation." He 
was counselled to go on improving, and advan- 
cing from good to better, and by his merits to 
incline the Pope, and the Legate, to grant far- 
ther testimonies in his favor. The ladder was 
thus planted at the feet of the Reformer, by 
which he might mount to the highest honors 
the world had to bestow ; but Zwingli chose the 
crown of thorns and the cross of Christ, before 
worldly glory. He gave up even the little sti- 
pend allowed him, for the purchase of books, 
and thus turned away from all the earthly 
profits, which now might so easily have been his. 

The promised reforms under Cardinal Schin- 
ner ; and others, were not carried out ; so Zwingli 



PREACHING TO PILGRIMS AT EINSIEDELN. 95 

appealed to Landenburg, then Bishop of Con- 
stance, to stay the corruption of the Church in 
his own diocese, and recommend to his clergy 
the preaching of the pure Gospel. But the 
Bishop showed as little will, or power, in the 
cause of church reform, as the Pope and his car- 
dinals, although he had previously maintained 
strong language on the subject of the degener- 
acy of the church. Zwingli sent his message in 
a letter. The Bishop read it, and only tossed it 
aside with the remark : " Convent preachers are 
not my advisers, when the holy father orders a 
reform, it will be time enough to begin it." 

Still Zwingli persevered in his good work, 
with frankness and earnestness, always testi- 
fying for the truth and looking for a better 
time to come. On one occasion when he was 
walking through the romantic valley at the 
Hermitage, with his friend Capito, he said : 
" The papacy must fall." To which the friend 
replied : " The sooner the better." And yet 
Capito himself, in after time, lost heart under 
the discouragements of the bitter opposition, 
while Zwingli, with the cheerfulness character- 
istic of him, persevered to the end. 

The freedom of the church was not to be won 
by any faint-hearted reformers ; only those who 



96 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

set their hearts as a flint, as did Luther and 
Zwingli; who persevered, when all around was 
discouraging to common men, won the true re- 
former's crown. They made mistakes, it is true ; 
they were not infallible ; they may have been 
saddened, and often pained, at the apparent in- 
difference of those who should have stood with 
them, but with each defeat they rose to higher 
planes of action; and when, at last, they fell 
asleep in death, others arose who faithfully 
carried on the issue, until victory was achieved. 
Their names stand written on the fair pages of 
history, which record the acts of the great and 
good. And as Coleridge beautiful^ writes : 

" Goodness and greatness are not means, but ends. 
Hath he not always treasures, always friends, 
The good great man ? Three treasures-love, and light, 
And calm thoughts, equable as infant's breath ; 
And three fast friends more sure than day or night — 
Himself, his Maker, and the angel Death?" 



CHAPTER IX. 

A CONFLICT WITH SAMSON. 

One day in the month of August, 1518, 
there appeared upon the St. Gottard pass a 
strange-looking procession. It was a sort of 
caravan, or resembled, more nearly, a band of 
strolling actors. In advance went two men, 
making a proclamation, and directing the atten- 
tion of the people, who looked on with amaze- 
ment, to the interests that were to be presented 
to them by the character who had charge of the 
enterprise. The individual who was thus her- 
alded came on apace. He was a monk from 
Italy, of the Carmelite order, barefooted and 
covered with dust. His name was Samson, 
and he had in his custody an immense quan- 
tity of papers, which, he took care to explain, 
contained the signature of the Pope. These 
papers, or certificates, were called indulgences. 

As soon as he arrived in a village he made his 
proclamation : that u for the required amount of 
7 97 



98 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

* 

money " he would dispose of these indulgences to 
any one who would purchase them. Strange as 
it seems to us now, the poor people, who made 
their living by hard toil, and frequent exposure 
to the rigorous climate of Switzerland, who fol- 
lowed the life of the herdsman, or the farmer, 
crowded around this man, and began to pour 
their hard-earned money into his coffers. And 
what was it that they hoped to gain by this in- 
vestment? The complete pardon of all their 
sins. In their haste to secure the coveted prize, 
they contended with one another as to who 
should be first to part with his little pittance, 
saved up for the needs of the coming winter, 
and hand it all over to the agent of the Pope. 
Let us not smile at their eagerness or their 
convictions. Fostered in poverty and ignorance, 
they had been trained up from childhood to the 
belief that authorized men could absolve them 
from the guilt and penalty of sin. They are 
rather to be pitied than blamed for their readi- 
ness to give even their last penny for such a 
boon. Many pilgrims went to Rome each year 
that they might receive these certificates ; and 
now, the better to accommodate their needs (for 
many of them were too poor to make a pilgrim- 
age to Rome), the Pope kindly sent forth his 



A CONFLICT WITH SAMSON. 99 

commissioned agent to dispose of these indulgen- 
ces at their very doors. Why should they not, 
therefore, show their appreciation of this favor 
by patronizing the wares ready to hand ? 

The purchaser had a double advantage of- 
fered him : he might secure the pardon of his 
own sins, and also deliver the souls of his de- 
ceased friends from the pains of purgatory. The 
money thus obtained was named Peter's Pence, 
and was devoted to the cost of building the 
great St. Peter's Church at Home. It was the 
ambition of Pope Leo X, then seated in the 
papal chair, to erect a structure that would out- 
shine all other churches in its size and magnifi- 
cence. And when the funds ran short he sent 
forth these agents, as other popes had done be- 
fore him, and thus he realized a handsome in- 
crease. The passage of four centuries since 
has made this traffic seem very odious to usj 
but at that time it was only a brave man that 
dared to raise an objection. 

Samson made his way towards the canton 
where Einsiedeln was situated, known as the 
Schwitz. Here he began to proclaim : " I can 
forgive all sins ; heaven and hell stand under my 
dominion ; and I sell the merits of Jesus Christ 
to each and every one who is willing to pay in 



100 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

ready money for an absolution." Wherever he 
came Samson erected a red cross in one of the 
churches as the sign of his office, which he al- 
leged was equally efficacious with the cross 
upon which the Saviour suffered. He caused his 
arrival, and his business, and the time of his stay 
to be announced from the pulpits, and then 
proceeded with his traffic. The rich were taxed 
in proportion to their wealth, and obliged to 
pay high prices for the pardons, and the 
poor were urged to keep in the background 
lest they crowd out the wealthy patrons. 

At last the tidings of these doings reached the 
ears of Zwingli. On the next Sabbath he openly 
attacked the whole system. He said : u Jesus 
Christ, the Son of God, has said, ' Come unto 
me all that labor and are heavy laden, and I 
will give you rest/ It is audacious folly and 
shameless impudence to say : * Kun to Eome, 
buy a ticket of absolution, give this to the 
monks, that to the priests ; if you do so, then I 
pronounce you free from all sin ! ' No ; Jesus 
Christ is the only sacrifice, the only gift, the 
only way." This bold utterance was not with- 
out effect ; it only needed one to stand out in 
opposition to such a traffic, when many others 
would take heart to decry it. But there must 



A CONFLICT WITH SAMSON. 101 

always be a first one, like Luther, who opposed 
this same abuse under Tetzel in Saxony, and 
here again Zwingli, in Switzerland. If the 
soldiers at Concord fired a shot that was heard 
around the world, these two Keformers, without 
arms, inaugurated a revolution that never has, 
and never can, go backward. 

From that time forward Samson found diffi- 
culty in the prosecution of his errand in the 
Schwitz. He hastily withdrew from the canton 
and retreated to points where the clarion voice 
of Zwingli had not yet penetrated. And yet the 
influence followed him, and seriously hindered 
the success of his efforts. The people throughout 
the canton began to say : " Samson is a cheat and 
a robber/' He feared an uproar, dreaded to meet 
Zwingli, and left hurriedly for another canton. 

Samson turned back, first to Zug, where he 
continued his traffic, and then no doubt thinking 
it safe to place a considerable distance between 
Zwingli and himself, for the present, he went on 
to Lucerne. From Lucerne he went to Ober- 
land, and arrived at length in the vicinity of 
Bern. But before speaking of his doings there, 
we will mention an incident connected with his 
visit to the Schwitz. 

There was a citizen there of good standing, 



102 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

who had patronized the monk to such an extent 
that he became suddenly reduced, with his fam- 
ily, to extreme poverty. In his extremity he 
applied to Zwingli, stating that he was unable 
to satisfy his hunger and that of his children. 
Now it might be presumed that many would 
upbraid him with his folly in giving away his 
living for the worthless indulgences. Not so 
with Zwingli ; his was too true a Christian heart 
to permit him to adopt such a course. Daubigne 
says : " Zwingli could give when Rome would 
take, and he was as ready to do good works as 
he was to oppose those who taught that they 
were means by which we are saved. He daily 
supplied Stapfer with support. "It is God/' 
said he, intent on taking no credit to himself, 
" it is God who begets charity in the believer, 
and gives at once the first thought, the resolve, 
and the work itself." The grateful man never 
forgot his friend in need, and four years after 
this, when he was the honored Secretary of the 
Canton, he turned to Zwingli, seeking that 
which alone can supply the wants of the soul, 
and said : " Since it was you who once supplied 
my temporal wants, how much more may I ex- 
pect you may point me to that which shall sat- 
isfy the famine of my soul." 



A CONFLICT WITH SAMSON. 103 

The authorities at Bern were not disposed to 
admit Samson within their city. But through 
the good offices of some who were friendly to 
him, he at last succeeded in spreading his wares 
in St. Vincent's Church. He was encouraged 
at his success in getting a hearing, and became 
very bold in his proclamation. To the rich he 
said : u Here are indulgences on parchment for 
one crown." And to the poor he said : u There 
are absolutions on common paper for three half- 
pence only.'' One incident at Bern is related 
that seems hardly credible. It is the case of 
Jacob Von Stein, a knight of high standing, 
who came galloping up to the place where Sam- 
son was engaged one day, and asked for absolu- 
tion for himself, his five hundred followers, his 
ancestors, and his whole family. The horse on 
which the knight was seated pleased the monk, 
and a bargain was soon made, whereby the 
wholesale indulgence was granted, and the horse 
was led away to the monk's stable. Samson 
played the part of a giant here indeed, and 
forced an aged man, who was very worthy, and 
greatly respected by all, to fall upon his knees 
before him, and ask his pardon, for having let 
fall a word in criticism of the system of indul- 
gences. 



104 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

The Bernese, as we remarked above, seem to 
have been a merry people, and it may be, on 
this account that Samson reserved his greatest 
deed, at this place, till the last. The monk took 
his place upon the high altar in the church, and 
had Henry Lupulus (Wolf), Zwingli's former 
teacher, for his interpreter. " When the wolf 
and the fox come abroad together," said a good 
man to another minister, "the wisest plan for 
you is to gather your sheep and geese, with all 
speed, into a place of safety." To such remarks 
Samson paid no heed, if, indeed, he heard them ; 
but in a loud voice he called out : " Fall on 
your knees, repeat three paternosters and three 
Ave-Marias, and you will instantly be as pure as 
you were at the moment of your baptism.' ' 
The people fell on their knees, and Samson cried 
out : " I deliver from the torments of purgatory 
and hell the souls of all the people of Bern who 
have departed this life, whatsoever may have 
been the manner or the place of their death." 
To us such a scene would be shocking in the ex- 
treme. Such a great change has the Eeforma- 
tion produced in the thought of the world that, 
we may hope, such conduct may never be re- 
peated. 

Samson had been very successful at Bern, 



A CONFLICT WITH SAMSON. 105 

and went away with a well filled treasury, and 
presenting quite a different appearance from the 
poor display he made when he first came over 
the St. Gottard pass. He came as far as Baden, 
and forming a procession he marched around 
the graveyard. While thus engaged he cast 
his eyes toward heaven, while his aids chanted 
the hymn for the dead ; and pretending that he 
saw the liberated souls flying up from the 
churchyard toward heaven, he cried out : il Be- 
hold, they fly ! " A rude but effective rebuke 
was administered to him, by a man in the neigh- 
borhood, who climbed up in the church steeple 
and ripping open a pillow of feathers let them 
scatter downward through the air, exclaiming : 
" Behold, they fly ! " This had the effect of 
bringing his traffic into ridicule, and greatly 
angered the monk. He was only prevented 
from taking vengeance on the man by hearing 
that he was, at times, disordered in his intellect. 
Afterward he appeared at Bremgarten, where 
the Eev. Dean Bullinger, whose son afterward 
became a noted reformer, opposed his objec- 
tional mission. No sooner had he settled him- 
self at the hotel than Bullinger came to him 
and forbade the sale of indulgences within his 
charge. " Here are the Pope's bulls/ 7 said 



106 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

Samson, " open your church to me." As he did 
not have the authority of the bishop of that 
canton, Bullinger said : " I will suffer no one 
under the color of such letters to squeeze the 
purses of my people. ,, Samson said : " The 
pope is above the bishop. I charge you not to 
deprive your flock of so marvellous a grace." 
The Dean replied : " Were it to cost me my life, 
I will not open my church. Samson then be- 
came fiercely angry, and said : " In the name 
of the Pope I pronounce against thee the 
greater excommunication, nor will I grant thee 
absolution until you have paid three hundred 
ducats." But the Dean was true to his position 
and said : "I am prepared to answer for myself 
before my lawful judges. As for thee and thy 
excommunication, I have nothing to do with 
either." The position of Zwingli was beginning 
to have a wholesome effect in many parts of 
Switzerland, and in the end was destined to 
drive Samson back again over the Alps, but 
not until they had come into close quarters once 
more in the new field wherein our Reformer is 
now to be stationed. 



CHAPTEE X. 

FROM THE HERMITAGE TO THE CITY. 

The time had now arrived when Zwingli was 
to take his departure from the usually quiet re- 
treat of Einsiedeln. His work at this point, 
had been attended with great success ; he had 
here challenged the grave abuses which had 
crept into the church, and for the time, had 
turned backward that tide of deluded pilgrims 
who, year by year, for ages past had swept over 
the Etzel-Pass, to worship, " Our Lady of the 
Eremites." He had here forged one sentence, 
which the Christian ages should ever repeat as a 
sufficient answer to all theories of religious wor- 
ship at the shrine of some reputed saint : " Christ 
alone saves us, and He saves everywhere, " 

Here also he had given the true watchword 
against the pardon of pope and priest, in the 
words of Christ Himself : " Come unto me all 
ye that labor, and I will give you rest." He 
had made many enemies it is true, but he had 

107 



108 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

also made many true friends, and he had the 
witness in his bosom that he had discharged his 
duty. 

About this time a vacancy occurred in the 
Cathedral church at Zurich. The rising repu- 
tation of Zwingli led his friends to suggest his 
name for the place. But no sooner was his 
name proposed than his enemies, of the papacy, 
began to make opposition, and to thrust forward 
candidates of their own views. Attached to the 
cathedral itself was a college of canons, connect- 
ed with which, was a school placed under the 
care of Oswald Myconius, Zwingli's friend. The 
teacher used his utmost endeavor to have Zwin- 
gli appointed. What a blessing it would be, 
thought Oswald, to Zurich, to have this man to 
fill the place ! Zwingli's manners and appear- 
nce were prepossessing ; he was already re- 
marked for his eloquence, and distinguished 
among all the confederated Swiss for his 
brilliant genius. 

Myconius spoke of him to the provost of 
the chapter, Felix Frey, who was favorably 
disposed. Other men of authority were con- 
sulted, and many signified their willingness 
to vote for the late pastor at Einsiedeln. And 
a number of citizens, who had heard Zwingli's 



FROM THE HERMITAGE TO THE CITY. 109 

eloquent discourses, on the occasion of the pil- 
grimages, spoke in his favor. 

But the opposition were active also, and 
brought forward one Lorenzo Fabel, a Suabian, 
and a strong advocate of the papacy, and had 
him officiate at Zurich as a candidate. But his 
record as to morality was not good, and gave 
rise to objections on the part of many. All 
Zurich was astir with interest regarding the 
matter. Myconious wrote to Zwingli of Fabel, 
and said that the man was what his name im- 
ported a Fable. And on receipt of the tidings 
that the Suabian was actually elected, Zwingli 
wrote to his friend : " True it is then, that no 
prophet is honored in his own country, since a 
Suabian is preferred before a Swiss." But the 
report was without foundation ; the previous 
bad conduct of the man had prevented his elec- 
tion, and Zwingli might yet be chosen. 

Among the objections raised against Zwingli, 
by his opponents was that there were rumors 
against the character of the man dating from 
his pastorate at Glarus. It seems likely that 
these rumors were set afloat in order to offset 
the well known licentiousness of Fabel. When 
Zwingli was written to on the subject, he frank- 
ly replied that he had been tempted, and in the 



110 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

impulse of youth had been led away into improper 
conduct at one time, which he had sincerely re- 
pented of, and for which he hoped he was for- 
given. And we can the more readily excuse a 
weakness, on the part of Zwingli, when we 
remember the rude customs of the times, and 
the teachings which, for many generations, had 
been tolerated by the church of Rome. The 
result of the exciting canvas for the pulpit at 
Zurich was that Zwingli received seventeen, out 
of twenty-four votes, and was declared elected. 

When it was known that he was to leave 
Einsiedeln, his friends, the Abbot and Gerold- 
seck, with the little coterie that had gathered 
about him, and had hung upon his teachings 
with joy, became very sad at the thought of 
parting from him, and yet they rejoiced that 
such a wide field would now be opened to him, 
and wished him all success. Even the Council 
of Schwitz, transmitted to him an address, in 
which they styled him " their reverend, learned, 
and very gracious Master, and worthy friend. " 
And they added : " Although we are, in part, 
grieved by your departure from among us, yet, 
on the other hand, we rejoice with you in all 
that ministers to your honor and advantage/' 

Nor were these the only marks of apprecia- 



FROM THE HERMITAGE TO THE CITY. Ill 

tion bestowed upon him. The people at Win- 
terthur had, a short time before this, invited 
him to become their pastor ; and his former 
flock at Glarus wished him to return to them. 
He did make them a visit before entering upon 
his new field of labor. He resigned the honor- 
ary pastorate which they had persuaded him to 
retain hitherto, and had the pleasure of seeing 
his friend Dingauer, whom he had recommended 
to them, chosen as his successor. In like man- 
ner he was asked to name a successor at Einsie- 
deln, and recommended Leo Juda, and he was 
w r armly welcomed there. Thus was his charac- 
ter vindicated by those who had been near to 
him during his entire ministerial life, from the 
charge of his enemies, who opposed his election 
at Zurich. 

Having thus taken a friendly leave of his 
former friends, he turns his face towards his 
new field of labor. He goes with the kind re- 
membrance of many affectionate hearts, and 
with a record that time can never efface. Once 
more he climbs the heights of the Etzel, and the 
blue waters of lake Zurich, stretch out before 
him, at the farther end of which, lies the city 
he is now to enter as his future home. It was 
a December morning ; a gray fog hung upon 



112 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

the hilltops, while the sun's rays were glinting 
along the icy, and snow crowned, mountain peaks 
in the distance. In the struggles of the morn- 

DO 

ing sun, with the cloudy vapors, he beheld, says 
Christoffel : " an image of that conflict with the 
powers of darkness which he himself was now 
hastening to wage. ,, And as he sailed on over 
the waters of the lake, these were the thoughts 
which filled his mind, and which he reduced to 
writing : u As the heaven, peaceful and clear, 
encircles with its blue canopy high over head, 
the whole earth, though lightnings and tempests 
be beneath ; thus the truly wise man, the Chris- 
tian, rises above all storms and tempests. If 
you weigh all, you will find that the principle 
of good is stronger than that of evil, and that in 
the end, virtue overcomes vice. True wisdom 
obtains the mastery over iniquity ; for at the 
moment when this has reached its culminating 
point, the divine power seizes it and hurls it 
into the abyss. Herein God shows His power." 
The lake of Zurich is a lovely sheet of water, 
lovely even in that land of charming inland seas, 
and lofty mountains. It is twenty-five and a 
half miles long, and two and a half wide. It is 
the shape of a crescent ; or rather like one of 
those long winding horns on which the Swiss 



FROM THE HERMITAGE TO THE CITY. 113 

are accustomed to play their wild melodies, 
which ring among the mountain peaks, with 
many playful echoes, as the herdsmen follow 
their cattle up to the lofty summits, when sum- 
mer suns have worn away the past winter's 
snow. The indented shores, the cultivated slopes, 
the orchards, and farm houses, with here and 
there a pretty hamlet set down by the water's 
edge, form the outlines of a pleasing landscape. 
Lake Zurich is fed by the Linth, the 
stream which, it will be remembered, flows down 
from Glarus to the lake of Wallenstadt ; and so, 
by the ancient bed of the Maag, these waters 
flow on towards Zurich, which stands at the 
farther, or northern end. The outlet of the lake, 
Zurich is the river Limmat, a broad, clear, flow- 
ing stream, which speeds on its way northward 
to the Rhine, bearing with it, in its swift pas- 
sage along the streets of Zurich, and down 
through fertile valleys beyond, the pure waters 
of the Glarus hills. And so, we may add, the 
reformer who began his great work at Glarus, 
is now on his way to bring the glad- tidings of a 
free Gospel to Zurich ; whence it will flow out 
through many valleys, and by many mountain- 
sides, into various other lands, to make glad the 

hearts of the people. 
8 



114 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

Zwingli entered Zurich on the 27th day of 
December and went immediately to the hotel 
of " The Hermits," where for the present he 
tarried, and where he was waited upon by many 
of the citizens who would bid him welcome in 
the name of the Lord. Not all, however, were 
thus kindly disposed. Many feared his uncom- 
promising sternness, as he had been represented 
to them in no favorable light. He went at 
once to a meeting of the Chapter, where he re- 
ceived the following instructions : " You will 
use your utmost diligence in collecting the 
revenues of the chapter, not overlooking the 
smallest item. You will exhort the faithful, both 
from the pulpit and from the confessional, to pay 
all dues and tithes, and to testify, by their of- 
ferings, the love which they bear to the church. 
You will be careful to increase the amount that 
arises from the visitation of the sick, from 
masses, and in general from all ecclesiastical or- 
dinances. As to the administration of the sa- 
craments, preaching, personally watching over 
the flock, these are all among the duties of the 
priest. But for the performance of these you 
may employ a vicar to act in your stead, espe- 
cially in preaching. You are to administer the 
sacraments only to persons of distinction, and 



FROM THE HERMITAGE TO THE CITY. 115 

when especially called upon. You are not 
allowed to administer them indiscriminately to 
people of all ranks." 

We may well imagine, from our previous ac- 
quaintance with this man, who was reared 
among God's grandest works in nature, and 
who has now been made free from the servile 
bondage of the Romish priesthood, and brought 
into " the glorious liberty of the children of 
God," through Christ, that he will not be bound 
to a mere office of getting money from the peo- 
ple. His nature was totally averse to such em- 
ployment. His spirit was too noble, too free, 
too generous to allow himself to be made a mere 
collector of revenues, as were the sordid priests 
of the age. Besides, he was a minister of God's 
word. He felt the force of that utterance of 
St. Paul : " Woe is me if I preach not the Gos- 
pel." We will see how he will reply to this 
wonderful challenge with which he is confronted 
upon his first entrance into Zurich. 

Zwingli, with that grace which made him a 
distinguished man wherever he came, at first 
courteously tendered his thanks for the honor of 
his election to the vacant office. He then gave 
them plainly to understand that it was his firm 
and decided intention to preach the history of 



116 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, according to the 
Gospel of Matthew, that the people might not, 
as hitherto, to the great dishonor of the name of 
God, and Him after whom they are called, know 
Christ by name only, while they were ignorant 
of the whole history of His life and redemption. 
He would, therefore, take up the whole of the 
Gospel of Matthew, and preach it, verse by 
verse, and chapter by chapter without regard to 
the commentaries of men, by which he would 
not be bound, but give the sense according to 
the light received in answer to prayer, and by a 
diligent study of the originals. This he would 
do to the praise and glory of God and His only 
Son, for the salvation of souls and their upbuild- 
ing in the true faith. 

This was indeed a noble position, and canons 
Utinger, Englehard, Walde.r and others rejoiced 
at it, but Provost Frey and the canon Hoffman 
were excited with alarm and grief. All felt 
themselves on the eve of great events. Hoff- 
man arose and said that he hoped the election 
they had made would be followed by no bad re- 
sults. Such an exposition of the Scriptures 
would, in his opinion, do more harm than good, 
and others warned the new priest against inno- 
vations which could result in nothing but evil. 
And here the matter rested for the time. 




o 

5 

5 

N 



CHAPTER XI. 

A NEW STYLE OF PREACHING. 

' The visitor to Zurich is everywhere im- 
pressed with the air of antiquity which spreads 
itself over the place, while at the same time he 
notes the thrift and enterprise which mark its 
modern aspect. It contains over twenty-one 
thousand inhabitants, and is the most flourish- 
ing Swiss town in its silk and cotton manufac- 
tories, and other industries, while at the same 
time it is the literary centre of Swiss-Germany. 
The literary activity dates from the time of 
Zwingli, who is still regarded as the great man 
of early Swiss history, as Luther is regarded in 
Germany. Relics of Zwingli have been care- 
fully preserved and are shown to the modern 
visitor with great courtesy, as well as honest 
pride, by its worthy citizens. 

Close beside the Limmat, which divides the 
city into two parts, stands the building now used 
as the Town library, though it was called the 

117 



118 TIIE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

" Water Church " formerly, because it was sur- 
rounded by the current of the river. Here one 
is shown a letter which Zwingli wrote to his 
wife, his Greek New Testament, written out 
with his own hand, and many other mementoes 
of his life and works. Only a few steps away, 
resting on a terrace against the slope, stands 
the Cathedral, or " Minster,'' as it is called, 
where Zwingli preached. The building fronts 
the north, and hence has its side toward the 
river, which is only a few rods distant, while in 
its rear stands the old structure, once used as a 
cloister, but since the Eeformation as a school, 
now occupied by the public school, and swarming 
with children and youth. It was in this build- 
ing that Myconius taught, who had been so effi- 
cient in securing the post of honor for Zwingli. 
The old Cathedral looks majestic and 
venerable as it towers above the surrounding 
structures, with its round-topped towers at 
either corner, and its broad doors opening on 
the terrace below. Within, it is massive in its 
style of architecture, but very plain. The pul- 
pit stands at the side, against one of the heavy 
columns, just at the entrance to the choir, which 
is now stripped of every vestige of ornamenta- 
tion, and is seated with pews, as is the rest of 



A NEW STYLE OF PREACHING. 119 

the church. Deep galleries run along either 
side, adding to the great capacity of the struc- 
ture, but giving it a heavy and rather sombre 
look. The place probably wears essentially the 
same appearance that it did in the time of 
Zwingli, after the images had been removed, ex- 
cepting the changes which the passing years 
have wrought upon its ancient, gray walls. 

In this building Zwingli first made his ap- 
pearance on his thirty-sixth birthday, January 
1st, 1519. The church was filled by a nume- 
rous assembly, attracted by the reputation of 
the preacher and the desire to hear the new 
Gospel of which he was the acknowledged expo- 
nent. Without a lengthy and ornate introduc- 
tion, but as if weightier matters engaged his 
thought, the preacher said : " It is to Christ 
that I wish to guide you, — to Christ, the true 
spring of salvation. This divine Word is the 
only food that I seek to minister to your hearts 
and souls/' He then repeated his resolution, 
which he had already expressed to the canons, 
that he intended to expound the Gospel of 
Matthew, in connection with other passages of 
Scripture, commencing on the morrow, which 
would be the Christian Sabbath. 

His external appearance made a fine impres- 



120 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

sion. For, according to Bullinger, he was a 
fine-looking man in form and figure, and he was 
now in the flower of his manhood. " Let one," 
says Hagenbach, " only look at his portrait ; let 
him observe this energetic, well-compacted 
head, this marked physiognomy, as if stone- 
carved, this expansive forehead, this full, clear eye, 
this compressed mouth, with the well-rounded 
lips." Lavater reads in this cast of countenance 
" earnestness, reflection, manly resolution, con- 
centrated energy, a far-seeing, penetrating un- 
derstanding." Christoffel adds : "To a power- 
ful frame of body he added a well-modulated, 
deep-toned voice. In preaching he had an 
agreeable delivery, highly appropriate to the 
subject. His language was simple, popular and 
dignified ; in exposition it was clear and per- 
spicuous, in administering discipline serious and 
fatherly, in warning urgent, coming home to the 
soul, in comforting, warm and affectionate. 

On the following day the preacher again ap- 
peared, and, agreeably to his promise, took up 
the first chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel. A 
still ]arger assemblage was present. The nave 
of the Ci Minster," the aisles, the capacious gal- 
leries were all filled to their utmost capacity, 
and every eye was fixed upon the man who was 



A NEW STYLE OF PREACHING. 121 

to begin a new work in their midst. The 
preacher opened the Gospel, the book that had 
so long been sealed, and read the first page. 
This long catalogue of names became as a por- 
trait gallery under the skilful tongue of the 
speaker. The patriarchs, the prophets, the line 
of human ancestry leading up to Christ, all 
passed in review before the delighted audience, 
and when the service was concluded all ex- 
claimed in astonishment and delight: "We 
never heard the like of this before. ,, It was a 
noted occasion, and many hopes were indulged 
that a great work would be wrought in Zurich, 
by the ministry thus auspiciously begun. 

As time passed on the impression was deep- 
ened. The preacher continued his explanation 
of the Gospel, and, prepared by faithful study 
and earnest prayer, he went on to apply it to 
the practical affairs of life and to the deep-seated 
errors of the human heart. At the same time 
he magnified the glory and majesty of God the 
Father, taught that He alone was to be wor- 
shipped in spirit and in truth ; and showed that 
all men, without distinction, could obtain salva- 
tion in none other but in Christ. At the same 
time he warned against every kind of supersti- 
tion, of will-worship and hypocrisy. With up- 



122 TEE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

lifted voice he preached repentance and amend- 
ment of life, the exercise of Christian charity 
and fidelity. He attacked with resolution the 
vices most spread among the people ; he preached 
earnestly against inordinate expense in eating 
and drinking, and the wearing of fine clothes ; 
against oppression of the poor, against merce- 
nary wars, and the taking of gifts or bribes in 
the shape of pensions. Herein he spared neither 
pope nor emperor, king nor duke, princes nor 
nobles, not even the confederates themselves. 

All his discourses rested on the foundation of 
God's Word, which he explained and expounded 
as he went along, and it was pervaded by the 
conviction that, in the end, and by the help of 
God, truth and righteousness would gain the 
day over lying, error, hypocrisy and vice. This 
description comes from his contemporaries, one 
of whom adds : " All his comfort was in God, 
in whom he trusted, and in whom he rejoiced. 
He exhorted the town of Zurich to place their 
trust in Him/' 

That Zwingli was a stern and gloomy pro- 
phet, who never presented the consolations of 
the Gospel, who never dwelt upon the love and 
tenderness of Christ, is a great mistake. Fear- 
less as he was in attacking vice in every form, 



A NEW STYLE OF PREACHING. 123 

he always had regard to the intellectual and 
spiritual deficiencies of his hearers. He once 
said of his own course : " Christ praises, very 
highly, the faithful steward who gave to the 
household of his Lord their meat in due sea- 
son. Matt. 24 : 45. I strive to set before me 
the duty of dividing the word of God so that 
there may be the greater fruits. We do not 
plow and sow in winter, but in spring. So I 
sought to adapt my words to the condition of 
my hearers, giving each his portion of meat in 
due season. I pointed them to the mercy of God 
revealed in Jesus Christ, Thus I fed them with 
milk, for they were not able to receive the strong 
meat of the word, till some of them who were 
most bitter against me, at first, in the end, gave 
themselves to the Lord." 

The fact alluded to here is only what we might 
expect from the earnest, eloquent, and tender 
manner in which Zwingli preached. One year 
after he began his ministry here, it is said, 
two thousand persons had given their hearts to 
God. He himself adds : " They felt in their 
hearts how sweet the Lord is, and that every 
one who knows Him aright must cry out with 
the disciples, ' Lord to whom shall we go ? 
Thou hast the words of eternal life/ Or as in 



124 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

the words of Solomon, " I held him and would 
not let him go." For he who has learned to 
know God aright, and has been led home by His 
hand, like a strayed child, can never leave Him ; 
and though by the force of bodily pains the 
mouth were brought to deny him, yet the heart 
would still adhere to him, for it knows that God 
alone is its salvation through Jesus Christ. 
And I tell those this day who preach the word 
of God, and who preach it so as to draw salva- 
tion from it alone, that the trust in the one 
living and true God will go on to increase while 
the trust in the refuges of lies will decrease and 
decay ; and since man must put his whole confi- 
dence in God, and in Him alone, I had rather 
yield somewhat to human weakness than that 
the doctrine of Christ were altogether put 
aside." Here we see the ripest Christian expe- 
rience portrayed, blended with tender pity for 
the errors of the weak and ignorant. 

Christoffel remarks the admirable union in 
Zwingli of heroic courage and firm resolution, 
with a tender delicacy of feeling toward the 
weak. The man who was so firmly founded in 
the word of God that he could say : " I am sure 
that this is the mind of God ; and though you 
threaten me with all the malice of Kome, with 



A NEW STYLE OF PREACHING. 125 

all the fire of Aetna, or of hell itself, I shall not 
budge from it/' could yet admit to a boy who re- 
called to his mind a false expression he had 
made use of in the pulpit, that he was wrong, 
saying to the critical youngster, u We can learn 
much from boys when they are sharp and atten- 
tive/' In this manner Zwingli soon won the 
love of many hearts, and his influence over them 
was always salutary, for he brought to them 
not only fresh instruction, but he led them to 
the feet of the Saviour, and there they found 
rest to their souls. 

At the hearing of his first sermon there were 
men who before this had entirely withdrawn 
themselves from all religious service, on the 
ground that the sermons delivered there lacked 
the one thing needful, which the preacher had 
not himself learned — the truth. These men said '• 
11 God be praised, here is a preacher of the 
truth indeed ; he will be our Moses, and will 
lead us out of Egypt." Myconius, as usual, is 
quite carried away by his friend's eloquence, 
and says : " Never had there been seen a priest 
in the pulpit with such an imposing appearance 
and commanding power, so that you were irre- 
sistibly led to believe that a man from the apos- 
tolic times was standing before you." 



12G THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

The fact that such a distinguished preacher 
was at the Minster drew vast crowds to hear 
the word of God. And as many farmers at- 
tended the market on Fridays who were unable 
to attend on Sunday, Zwingli preached on that 
day from the Psalms, as he continued to do 
from the Gospels on Sunday. These discourses 
had a marked effect upon these people from the 
surrounding districts ; and many of them carried 
the seeds of divine truth back with them to their 
distant homes. This led the Town Council of 
Zurich to issue a mandate to the parish priests, 
curates and others, in town and country: " That 
they should freely and everywhere preach the 
Holy Gospels and the Epistles, and that they 
all should speak the same language, as the 
Spirit of God should direct them, and they were 
only to teach that which they could prove from 
the Bible. But as for the doctrines and com- 
mandments that were of man's institution, they 
should let them alone." It was due to this fact, 
no doubt, that many of the more earnest and 
worthy priests of the canton came into accord 
with Zwingli, and, imbibing his spirit, began to 
preach Bible truth. 

But along with this pleasant picture we 
must present the fact that many opponents 



A NEW STYLE OF PREACHING. 127 

were to be found on every side, and besides 
grave troubles afflicted the affairs of government 
in the Cantons, in which it was the duty of Zwin- 
gli, as "Folk-Preacher/' to take part. He was 
constantly found among the people, visiting and 
conversing with them freely everywhere, trying 
to follow the example of the Divine Master, of 
whom it was said : " The common people heard 
him gladly, and He went about doing good/' 

The sociability of Zwingli contributed not a 
little to his popularity. He frequented the 
places where the civic companies or trading 
bodies held their meetings, explaining to the 
people the leading articles of the Christian faith, 
or holding familiar conversation with them. 
He treated all with equal respect, and it was 
charged against him by his enemies that " He 
invited the country folks to dinner, walked with 
them, talked to them about God, and often put 
the evil one in their hearts and his own wri- 
tings into their pockets." 

He still loved music, but indulged in it with 
moderation, notwithstanding which his enemies 
named him the " Evangelical lute-player and 
piper.* Faber, who was formerly his friend, 
reproved him for his love of music. He replied : 
" My dear Faber, thou knowest not what music 



128 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

is. I do not deny that I have learned to play 
the lute and violin, and other instruments, and 
at worst they serve me to quiet little children 
when they cry ; but as for thee thou art too 
holy for music ; and dost thou not know, then, 
that David was a cunning player on the harp, 
and how he chased the evil spirit out of Saul ? 
Oh ! if thy ears were but awake to the notes of 
the celestial lute, the evil spirit of ambition and 
greediness of wealth, by which thou art pos- 
sessed, would in like manner depart from thee." 
The Eeformer composed the music of several of 
his Christian lyrics, and it is to be hoped that 
some one will discover and publish these manu- 
scripts as a contribution to our reformation his- 
tory, in which field there is abundant material 
w r hich will richly repay the successful collector. 
It belongs to this part of our work to speak 
of Zwingli's system of labor, also. From sun- 
rise till ten o'clock he employed himself in read- 
ing, writing, or translating ; the Hebrew espe- 
cially during that portion of the day occupied 
much of his attention. After dinner he gave 
audience to those who had any communication 
to make to him, or stood in need of any of his 
advice ; he walked out in company with his 
friends and visited his people. At two o'clock 



A NEW STYLE OF PKEACHING. 129 

he resumed his walk. He took a short turn 
after supper and then began writing letters, 
which often engaged him until midnight. He 
always read and wrote standing, and never al- 
lowed the customary allotment of his time to be 
disturbed, except for some very important cause. 
In all this we can plainly see how well Zwin- 
gli was adapted to be the forerunner of the Pro- 
testant pastor, how nearly he hit upon the 
spirit, life, and conduct of the minister of a free 
Gospel, going out and in among his people, not 
clad in priestly robes, and bearing himself with 
a lofty ecclesiastical dignity, but as one of their 
own number, like them responsible to God for 
his conduct, he led the way toward heaven. He 
was also remarkably cheerful in spirit. No ca- 
lamity at this time ever daunted him. His 
speech was ever hopeful, his heart ever stead- 
fast. He sat alternately at the poor man's 
scanty board, and the banquet table of the 
great, as his Master had done before him, and 
everywhere he strove to advance the cause of 
Christ. 

9 



CHAPTER XII. 

SHADOWS AND SORROWS. 

When the warm days of July and August 
approach, and the melting snow and ice swell 
the streams which pour down the ravines of the 
Alps, great clouds of vapor often arise and hide 
their lofty summits from the sight. These 
clouds are wafted onward by the summer breeze, 
and cast their shadows upon the long grassy 
slopes which lie between the mountains and the 
lakes. Their dusky forms may stand for those 
shadows which are now to fall upon the eventful 
experience of Zwingli. 

First among the troubles which came upon 
him at this time was the approach of the monk 
Samson, from whom we lately parted at Brein- 
garten, towards Zurich. Partial success in his 
sale of indulgences had made him bold, and in 
his controversy with Dean Bullinger he had re- 
solved to appeal to the deputies of the Confed- 
eration at Zurich for permission to continue his 
130 



SHADOWS AND SORROWS. 131 

trade throughout the cantons. Both parties 
came on to test the issue before the deputies ; 
and as Zwingli saw the gradual progress of the 
bold monk, he again lifted up his voice against 
the whole system by which Samson was getting 
great gains. The latter when on his road to 
Zurich said : " I know that Zwingli will speak 
against me, but I will stop his mouth." 

Zwingli knew well the blessedness of the sense 
of sins forgiven, but he knew also that only 
Christ could forgive them. He said : " When 
Satan attempts to terrify me, crying aloud : 
4 Lo ! this and that thou hast left undone, 
though God has commanded itF — the gentle 
voice of the Gospel brings me instant comfort, 
for it whispers : ' What thou canst not do, and 
of a truth thou canst do nothing, that Christ 
does for thee, and does it thoroughly/ ' Yes, 
when my heart is wrung with anguish by rea- 
son of my impotency, and the weakness of the 
flesh, my spirit revives at the sound of these joy- 
ful words ; Christ is thy sinlessness ! Christ is thy 
righteousness ! Christ is the Alpha and the 
Omega ; Christ is the beginning and the end ; 
Christ is all ; He can do all ! All created things 
will disappoint and deceive thee ; but Christ, the 
sinless and the righteous, will accept thee.' " 



132 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

Eeferring again to Samson, he said : " No 
man has power to remit sins — except Christ 
alone, who is very God and very man in one. 
Go if thou wilt, and buy indulgences. But be 
assured, that thou art in nowise absolved. They 
who sell the remission of sin for money, are but 
companions of Simon the magician, the friends 
of Balaam, the ambassador of Satan/' When 
Samson at last with the effrontery of his craft 
arrived at an inn in the suburbs of Zurich, and 
while he had his foot in the stirrup ready to 
mount his horse and ride into the city, he was 
accosted by messengers from the council, who 
while courteous as they thought becoming to- 
wards an agent of the Pope, intimated to him 
that he might forego his intention of appearing 
in Zurich. The seller of pardons replied : " I 
have somewhat to communicate to the Diet, in 
the name of his Holiness. 

This, Daubigne says, was only a stratagem. It 
was determined, however, that he should be ad- 
mitted ; but as he spoke of nothing but his bulls, 
he was dismissed, after having been forced to 
withdraw the excommunication he had pro- 
nounced against the Dean of Bremgarten. He 
departed in high-dudgeon ; and soon after, the 
Pope recalled him to Italy. A cart, drawn by 



SHADOWS AND SORROWS. 133 

three horses, and loaded with coin, obtained un- 
der false pretences from the poor, rolled before 
him over those steep roads of the St. Gottard, 
along which he had passed eight months before, 
indigent, unattended, and encumbered by no 
burden save his papers." 

But a far greater conflict awaited Zwingli 
than this in connection with his patriotic efforts. 
It has been remarked already that, even when at 
Glarus, he had taken strong grounds against the 
foreign military service, which had been so 
long the bane of Switzerland. As the evil con- 
tinued he could not be silent, and perform his duty 
to his people. And it was the more necessary 
for him to take a deep interest, and an active 
part in the affairs of state, since in Switzerland 
the Government was in the hands of the people. 

"No nation," says Seebohm, "was so ab- 
solutely without a central authority as the 
Swiss. Each canton was as independent of the 
others, for most purposes, as the petty feudal 
states of Germany. When Machiavelli com- 
plained of the divisions of Italy preventing its 
becoming a nation, he warned the Italians of the 
danger of a country being ' cantonized ' like 
Switzerland. But there was this difference be- 
tween a Swiss canton and a petty feudal state. 



134 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

In the Swiss canton there was no feudal lord; 
the people governed themselves. It was not a 
feudal lordship, but a little republic of communes 
or villages of the primitive Teutonic type, in 
which the civil power was vested in the commu- 
nity. If therefore in a Swiss canton the civil 
power took to itself the ecclesiastical power 
hitherto held by the Pope, that power vested in 
the people, not, as in other countries, in the 
prince or king." 

The political troubles of the Swiss were re- 
newed in 1520 and still more in 1521, by the 
intrigues of the Pope, and by the efforts of 
Francis L, king of France, and the emperor 
Charles V., to secure their aid in the wars 
which these rival princes waged against one 
another. Francis finallv succeeded, in a Diet 
of the confederates held at Lucerne, on the third 
of May, 1521, in concluding a treaty of alliance 
with all the cantons except Zurich. Zwingli 
was now 7 active, as he had need to be, to prevent 
his people from engaging in this unseemly strife. 
He said : " Next to my concern for the word of 
God, the interests of the Confederacy lie nearest 
my heart. For the longing desire of my heart, 
and the great object of my teaching, has been 
the preservation of the Confederacy, that it 



SHADOWS AND SORROWS. 135 

might remain, as handed down to us from our 
fathers, true to itself, and free from service un- 
der foreign masters, and that the members of it 
might live together in peace and friendship." 

Zwingli lifted up his voice energetically against 
this evil of foreign service. " Our fathers/' said 
he, u conquered their enemies, and won their 
freedom, relying on no other arm but the arm of 
the Almighty, and they were ready at all times 
to recognize His intervention in their behalf/' 
This he could say with confidence, for the Swiss, 
in ancient times began their battles with pray- 
er, and when they gained a victory, they fell 
on their knees, and thanked God for His help. 
The preacher then pointed out the dangers 
that would come to them again from engaging 
in foreign service. They would be in danger of 
God's judgments; their laws would be trampled 
upon ; idleness would again characterize the re- 
turned soldiers ; selfishness would be paramount, 
and strife among brethren would be sure to fol- 
low. In consequence of these wise counsels 
Zurich resolved to observe a strict neutrality, 
and to adhere to the treaty of perpetual peace 
made between all the cantons in 1516. 

Nevertheless some three thousand soldiers en- 
listed under the influence of the Pope, professedly 



136 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

to protect the territory of the church, but really 
to fight for Charles V. "When the troops were 
well on their way to Italy the secret of their 
destination leaked out, and an express was 
sent to recall them, but on condition that they 
were not to be employed against the French, 
they were allowed to proceed. The united 
forces of the Pope and the Emperor triumphed 
over those of France; and the Swiss returned 
without either laurels or booty. The greatest 
dissatisfaction now was cherished by the other 
cantons towards Zurich ; and Zwingli, who had 
strenuously resisted the whole movement, was 
blamed most of all. He was never forgiven by 
the other cantons, and their enmity was not sa- 
tiated even with his death. 

Zwingli had enfeebled his health by over- 
work, and made a journey eastward to the cele- 
brated baths of PfafFers, about this time, that he 
might rest and receive the benefit of the water 
of the hot springs. The place was not calcu- 
lated to cheer the spirit of the reformer, what- 
ever the water might do for his health. The baths 
were situated in the frightful gorge formed 
by the impetuous torrent of the Tamina. 
Daniel, the hermit, named it the " infernal 
gulf ;" and well he might, for the limestone cliffs 



SHADOWS AND SORROWS. 137 

are from 500 to 800 feet in height, while the gorge 
is only from 30 to 50 feet wide, through which 
rushes the roaring waters of the river. Itis said 
that the bath-house, now located in the gorge, en- 
joys sunshine in the height of summer from 10 
till 4 o'clock, but in the building where Zwingli 
lodged it was necessary to burn torches at midday. 
This was the ancient seat of a monastery, and 
many were the stories told of fearful spectres 
which might be seen there gliding to and fro 
amidst the darkness. This gloom is mentioned by 
many writers as a preparation of Zwingli for 
coming trouble. 

Trouble soon came in the form of news 
that the plague had broken out in Zurich. 
Zwingli hastened to return that he might per- 
form a pastor's part in this trying emergency. 
The " Great Death/' as it was called, swept on 
from the east over the deep chasm of Tamina, 
where Zwingli was, and, as a great shadow of 
destruction, fell upon nearly all the towns and 
villages of Switzerland, late in the summer of 
1519. During the time of its frightful ravages 
it swept away no fewer than 2,500 souls in 
Zurich. After sending away a number of young 
men who were students in his house, among 
whom was his brother Andrew, Zwingli began 



138 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

his faithful work among the sick and dying of 
his flock. As he went forward with his du- 
ties many watched him with admiration, but 
with solicitude as well, for thev knew not what 
moment the fell destroyer might lay him 
low. 

A friend in Basel, Gonrad Brunner, wrote : 
11 1 rejoice greatly that thou standest untouched 
and unharmed by the arrows of death which are 
flying around. But my joy will not be free of 
anxiety so long as thou daily exposest thyself to 
great peril by visiting the sick of the plague. 
Forget not, while bringing consolation to others, 
to take care of thine own life." With heroic 
courage he visited the sick and the dying with- 
out intermission, and supplied them with the 
rich consolations of the Gospel. In his sermons 
he raised the sinking hearts of his terrified con- 
gregation with the promises of the word of life, 
and pointed them to Christ, who quickens the 
weary and heavy ladened. Many among his 
people also trembled for the life of their faithful 
pastor, as they saw him moving about amidst 
the thickly-flying darts of death, himself bear- 
ing around the cup of salvation. 

The anxiety of friends was but too well 
founded, for at the end of September he was 



SHADOWS AND SORROWS. 139 

also smitten with the pestilence. The grief of 
his people was great when they realized that 
their pastor was stretched upon a bed of sick- 
ness, perhaps of death. Friends of evangelic 
truth at a distance were also deeply moved at 
the tidings. Dr. Hedio wrote to him : " We 
were deeply afflicted when we heard that this 
murderous disease had seized you also, for who 
would not grieve if the deliverer of his country, 
if the trumpet of the Gospel, if the courageous 
herald of the truth should be stricken down in 
the prime of life, high in hope, and in the 
midst of his usefulness." The feelings of his 
own soul during his sickness the Reformer 
poured forth in the following hymn, of which we 
furnish a new version as nearly as possible in the 
meters and language of the original German : 

Lord, hear my anxious pleading, 
0, help me in this strait ; 
Upon my door is knocking, 
The doleful hand of death. 
Thou, Lord, for him in conflict 
The might of mercy hast ; 
Stay, Christ, ! stay beside me, 
And help me to the last. 

My Father, if it be Thy will, 
grant me saving grace, 
And make this cup pass from me, 
Nor hide me from Thy face. 



140 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

Send comfort to my spirit, 
E'en while my pains increase; 
This is my hour of anguish, 
From tossings no release. 

Thou art, Lord, my Maker, 
And I Thy creature am, 
As clay in hand of potter 
I'm fashioned by Thy hand. 
At length in holy stillness 
My soul with Thee shall rest, 
Thy will shall be my pleasure 
Be it in life or death. 

The disease gained ground. His friends in 
deep affliction beheld the man on whom the 
hopes of Switzerland and the church reposed, 
ready to be swallowed up by the grave. His 
bodily powers and natural faculties were for- 
saking him. His heart was smitten with dis- 
may, yet he found strength sufficient left him to 
turn to God and to cry : 

Hear, my God, 'tis Thee I seek, 

My malady increases; 

The sharpness of my pain exceeds, 

My heart is pierced with grieving. 

To Thee, my Comforter, I flee, 

Haste, Lord, to help and strengthen me, 

Bring comfort, blessed Jesus. 



SHADOWS AND SORROWS. 141 

Ye3, Saviour, from Thy presence sweet 
Comes help to them that trust Thee ; 
In faith they clasp Thy pierced feet 
And joyful rest upon Thee ; 
On Thee, for aye, their hope is set, 
Their treasure Thou, they ne'er forget 
When earthly good doth perish. 

Surely I see with griping hand 

The evil One approaching, 

And him, though weak, I must withstand, 

He shall not thus o'erthrow me. 

For while my faith is strong and fast 

Thou, Lord, wilt make my courage last, 

By fear of hell unshaken. 

Great was the consternation that prevailed 
throughout the city. The friends of the papacy- 
thought that it would be dreadful if he were 
not reconciled with Rome, but no one seems to 
have disturbed him with this subject. The be- 
lievers cried to God night and day, earnestly en- 
treating that He would restore their faithful 
pastor. The alarm had spread from Zurich to 
the mountains of Toggenburg. Even there the 
plague had been ravaging. Seven or eight per- 
sons had fallen a prey to it in Wildhaus, one of 
them a servant of Zwingli's brother Nicholas. 
No tidings were received from the Reformer. 
His brother Andrew wrote : " Let me know 



142 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

what is thy state, my beloved brother. The 
Abbot and all our brothers salute thee." It 
would seem that Zwingli's parents were already 
dead, since they are not mentioned here. But 
that glimmering spark of life, which had been 
left unquenched, began now to burn more 
brightly. Though laboring still under great 
bodily weakness his soul was filled with a 
deep impression that God had called him to re- 
place the candle of his word on the deserted 
candlestick of his church. The plague had re- 
linquished its victim. With strong emotion 
Zwingli now exclaimed : 

Restored, through Thy great mercy, 

My God, I'm well again ; 

My joyful lips do praise Thee, 

I sing in gladsome strain. 

Since Thou hast been my Helper, 

And life Thou didst restore, 

My soul shall ever bless Thee 

And, daily, more and more. 

Had death securely bound me, 
I would from earth be free, 
And even now be standing, 
My blessed Lord, by Thee. 
Now must I bide my summons 
And wait for death again, 
Prepared for work or suffering, 
Prepared for greater pain. 



SHADOWS AND SORROWS. 143 

Yet, since Thou thus hast willed it, 
I joyful journey on, 
With true and willing spirit, 
Till pilgrimage is done. 
Through pain and strife I'm pressing, 
To Thee, Lord, I come- 
To yonder blissful haven, 
To my eternal home. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

BRAVE EFFORTS FOR REFORM. 

The Cathedral Church of Zurich, known by 
the name of ' the Minster/ was a very ancient and 
well-endowed institution. When Zwingli be- 
came its pastor, in 1519, its council consisted of 
twenty-four canons, to whom were added a 
number of chaplains. All these in former times 
lived upon the revenues of the foundation, but 
performed no other service than to sing in the 
choir during canonical hours. The whole labor 
of preaching and of the care of souls was left to 
the one pastor, called people's priest, and his 
two assistants. The burden of this great charge 
lay upon Zwingli, and earnestly did he labor to 
fulfil his duty. 

When the Reformer arose from his sick bed, 
snatched as it were from the very jaws of 
death, he manifested even greater zeal than be- 
fore. Notwithstanding the fact that his ene- 
mies continued on his track, he won the affec- 
144 



BRAVE EFFORTS FOR REFORM. 145 

tions of the people to such a degree that in 1521 
he was elected to canonship by the chapter. 
He might now, agreeably to the old custom, 
have retired from active life and passed the re- 
mainder of his days in dignified leisure ; but he 
retained his pastorship, and continued to per- 
form all its duties, as before, though his seat in 
the council gave him a voice and vote in its de- 
liberations, and more freedom in his work. 

For a time, in connection with his other 
duties, he pursued the study of the Hebrew 
language, under an able teacher, and as before 
in the case of the Greek, he soon made rapid 
progress. He was thus enabled to read the 
Old Testament in the original. A deeper seri- 
ousness now manifested itself in the spirit of the 
Reformer, due no doubt to his late sickness, but 
more especially to the need that he discerned 
for reformation in the church. He was hardly 
yet fully recovered, for in November he wrote : 
" The sickness has enfeebled my memory and 
prostrated my spirits. I often in preaching 
loose the thread of my discourse. My whole 
frame is oppressed with languor, and I am little 
better than a dead man/' But he soon rose to 
strength again, and though l faint was still pur- 



suing/ 



10 



146 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

There were three monasteries in Zurich, and 
as Zwingli, and those who stood with him af- 
firmed that the pure word of God should only 
be proclaimed to the people, the monks in these 
monasteries fearing that their calling might be 
overthrown, petitioned the council to forbid any- 
one to preach against their customs, on the 
ground that it would disturb the community. 
The council granted their petition, and a violent 
contest followed in the pulpits between the Ke- 
formers and the monks. The council referred 
the matter to a committee, and after a stormy de- 
bate the presiding officer exhorted them not to 
preach anything that might cause disturbance. 

Zwingli solemnly declared : " I cannot ac- 
cept this command. I will preach' the Gos- 
pel free and without limitation, as was for- 
merly resolved upon. I am bishop and par- 
son of Zurich. To me the care of souls is en- 
trusted. I, not the monks, have taken the 
oath. They must yield and not I. If they 
preach lies I will come up to the very pulpit of 
their cloisters and contradict them. I, for my 
part, if I preach anything contrary to the Holy 
Gospel am willing to subject myself to the cen- 
sure of the chapter, nay, of every citizen, and 
let myself be punished for it." This bold stand 



BRAVE EFFORTS FOR REFORM. 147 

decided the council, and they granted to Zwingli 
and his friends permission to preach in the chapels 
of the convents. Truth had thus again conquered. 
Soon after this an event occurred which gave 
the enemies of reform an opportunity to attack 
Zwingli. Early in 1522 he stated in a sermon 
that feasts appointed by the church, in which 
certain meats were forbidden to be eaten at cer- 
tain times, a release from which could only be 
obtained by donations to the church, had no 
foundation in the word of God, but were di- 
rectly contrary to it. He said : " Many think 
that to eat flesh is improper, nay a sin, although 
God has nowhere forbidden it, but to sell human 
flesh in slaughter and carnage they hold to be 
no sin at all." Reports of this sermon were 
carried by the monks to the Bishop of Con- 
stance, who sent a delegation to Zurich on April 
7th, 1522, who set themselves to gain a secret 
meeting of the authorities and have Zwingli 
condemned. Though they tried to prevent it, 
the council decided that the pastor should be 
present at the conference. The bishop's am- 
bassadors were very smooth and polite in 
speech, while they hinted that contentious and 
dangerous men taught that human institutions 
and rites are no more to be regarded, and this 



148 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

would undermine the church. Zwingli replied 
that Zurich was more peaceable than any other 
town in the confederacy. He added : " For my 
part, one may fast the whole year, if he have not 
enough in the forty days ; only I hold that 
fasts should not be imposed on any one by the 
threat of excommunication, but that every one 
should be left to use his own liberty in the mat- 
ter." The mission returned, having entirely 
failed in its object. 

On May second the bishop sent to all the 
clergy a warning against the new views, with- 
out naming Zwingii, but covertlv striking at 
him. The Keformer availed himself of a pamph- 
let published at Bern and directed against the 
bishop, which he circulated through the com- 
munity. On May 24th the bishop made a third 
attack by a letter prepared by his vicar Fabel, 
and directed to the council at Zurich warning 
them against the poison of new teachers. Zwin- 
gli answered this in a pamphlet of his own, en- 
titled u The Beginning and the End," so named 
because he wished it to be final on the subject 
on his part. He spoke respectfully of the 
bishop, but ascribed his course to evil advisers, 
whom he advises him to dismiss, and, continu- 
ing, answers the letter sentence by sentence. 



BRAVE EFFORTS FOR REFORM. 149 

Matters now began to assume a serious as- 
pect. A Diet was assembled at Lucerne in May, 
at the instance of the bishop, for the purpose of 
applying stringent measures. A complaint was 
at once lodged against the adherents of the new 
doctrine and the preacher of Zurich. A motion 
was immediately passed : " In the name of the 
confederacy to instruct the priests, whose sermons 
produce disunion and disturbance among the 
people, to desist from such preaching. Sorely as 
this action annoyed Zwingli he did not allow him- 
self to be discouraged by it, or to relax his zeal for 
the cause of Christ. He heard in the brewing storm 
a call to uphold the sacred banner of the truth. 

Accordingly he called together at Einsiedeln 
a number of the evangelical clergy in the month 
of June, 1522, and laid before them two peti- 
tions for their signatures, one in German to the 
Diet, the other in Latin to the Bishop of Con- 
stance. The petitions were different in form, 
but in substance the same, and prayed : (i That 
the preaching of the Gospel might not be for- 
bidden, and that it might be permitted to the 
priests to marry." il Little as was the influ- 
ence," says Christoffel, " which this petition ex- 
erted on those to whom it was addressed, it still 
produced great effects among the lower orders of 



150 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

clergy and the people. It became a banner 
around which the friends of divine truth and of 
the rights of conscience leagued in one covenant, 
that disappointed all the schemes of combined 
iniquity. On the fifteenth of August of this 
year the chapter of the canton of Zurich which 
comprised the clergy from the sources of the 
Linth to the junction of the Limmat with the 
Reuss, met and made the great spiritual move- 
ment of the times a chief topic of debate. By 
Zwingli's influence this assembly unanimously 
adopted the following resolution: " To preach 
nothing but what is contained in the Word of 
God." From this time on his watchword was : 
" We must obey God rather than man." 

The resolution passed at Einsiedeln relating to 
the marriage of the priests, and which was for- 
warded with the petition to the bishop and the 
Diet, prepares the way to speak of Zwingli's 
marriage. This event has a great deal of ro- 
mance surrounding it, as well as danger. It is 
generally dated on April 12, 1524, though sup- 
posed by some to have taken place at an earlier 
period, but not published on account of the 
troublous nature of the times, which rendered 
the marriage of a priest a cause of stumbling 
and offence to many. 



BRAVE EFFORTS FOR REFORM. 151 

Zwingli became acquainted with Anna Bern- 
hardt through his interest in her son, Gerold 
Meyer, who came to his study in Zurich upon 
some errand during 1521. Zwingli appears to 
have formed a strong attachment to this youth, 
and by a sort of natural consequence became at- 
tracted to the excellent qualities of the mother. 
She ha.d married young, above her station in 
life, to John Meyer von Knonau, a young no- 
bleman in the neighborhood of Zurich, where 
his father's castle was situated. The elder 
Meyer was highly incensed when he heard of 
his son's marriage to Anna, and disinherited 
him. After a few years of wedded life Anna's 
husband was removed from her by death. 
Thus in the year 1513 she was left a widow 
with the care of three children, one son and two 
daughters. She thought only of the education 
of her children, for which purpose no means 
were at hand. 

The grandfather was inexorable, seeming to 
have no interest whatever in his destitute grand- 
children, until one day he happened to be near 
the fish-market in Zurich, when he saw little 
Gerold at play. The beauty of the child at- 
tracted his attention, and he inquired whose 
boy it was. Upon being told that it was his 



152 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

son's he was moved to deep feeling. He 
brought the widow and her children to his 
wealthy home and rejoiced in their companion- 
ship 

The pastor of Zurich, now convinced that the 
Scriptures nowhere forbid the marriage of 
Christian ministers, but on the other hand en- 
courage this ordinance that the minister may be 
the head of a Christian household, sought the 
hand of the young widow and they were joined 
in marriage. She proved to be in every way 
worthy of his choice, but she had great sorrows 
to bear in after time, even greater than those 
she had experienced in her earlier years. 

Their family consisted of four children : The 
eldest daughter, Regula married Zwingli's suc- 
cessor, Ralph Gwalter, and died in 1565. The 
youngest daughter, Anna, died early. William, 
the eldest son, died in 1541, while a student of 
theology at Strassburg ; and Ulric, the younger 
son, became afterward, a professor of theology 
at Zurich. With him the male line of the Re- 
former became extinct. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

DANGER AND DEFENCE. 

All thoughtful men knew that a grave issue 
was at hand, when the year 1523 dawned upon 
the reformation in Switzerland. The Diet 
which was composed of the delegates from the 
various cantons opposed to the reforms intro- 
duced by Zwingli in Zurich had met in Lucerne 
the May previous, and sent forth an ominous 
warning, which was followed by threat after 
threat, from the same quarter. Even as dark 
clouds roll athwart the sky, and gleams of light- 
ning flash out from the storm-center, while as 
yet it is far distant from the spectator ; so 
Zwingli saw the front of the coming tempest, 
and knew that every shaft of death was pointed 
at his heart. But while he knew all this, only 
too well, his conscience would not suffer him to 
relax his efforts for needed reformation. 

In the month of August previous, all the 

pastors in Zurich had given up their pensions. 

153 



154 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

During the same month a convention had been 
held at Rapperschwyl, in which 38 parishes 
were represented, and all these proposed to 
stand together in defence of the truth. These 
pastors resolved unanimously to preach only 
what they could prove by the word of God. 
One of them, pastor Weiss, was soon afterward 
imprisoned at Constance, for rejecting the invo- 
cation of the Virgin Mary, and for refusing 
longer to obey the rule of celibacy. He escaped 
with his life, but other pious men were less 
favored. 

There was a strong desire on the part of 
many godly persons, expressed at this time, for 
the removal of all images from their churches. 
Zwingli was favorable to this change, but he 
exhorted to patience, and delay, until there was 
a stronger public sentiment to sustain the move- 
ment. But a citizen of Stadelhofen, named 
Hottinger, rebuked the miller of that place for 
keeping a cross with the image of the Saviour 
upon it beside the highway, where many per- 
sons paid it reverence. The miller replied : " If 
you are empowered to remove it, I leave you to 
do so." Hottinger construed this as permission, 
and proceeded, with others, to take the image 
down. Great excitement followed ; the parti- 



DANGER AND DEFENCE. 



155 



sans of Rome clamored for his blood, and the 
men were arrested. Zwingli took the ground 
that they had not committed sin against God by 
this act. Bat that they should be justly pun- 
ished for having resorted to violence without 
the sanction of the magistrate. Hottinger was 
set at liberty, but he was afterward arrested at 
Baden, brought before the Diet in Lucerne in 
March 1524, condemned to death, and beheaded. 
His last words were : " Into Thy hands I com- 
mend my soul, ! my Lord and Redeemer, 
Jesus Christ ! Have mercy on me and receive 
me unto Thyself." Thus died Nicholas Hot- 
tinger, the first martyr of the Reformed Church. 
The feeling in favor of abolishing the images 
kept increasing however, and one day a pastor 
of St. Peter's Church in Zurich observing a 
number of poor people before the church door 
said to one of his colleagues : "I should like to 
strip those wooden idols, and clothe those poor 
members of Jesus Christ/' A few days after, at 
three o'clock in the morning, the saints and their 
fine trappings were missing. The council sent 
the pastor to prison, although he protested that he 
had no hand in removing them. Threats were 
now multiplied on the part of the papal cantons 
against Zurich, and fierce controversies followed. 



156 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

The magistrates undecided as to the course 
they ought to pursue, sent word to the bishops 
of Constance, Basel and Coira, to despatch a 
joint commission to Zurich. But it was the 
policy of these bishops to keep silent for the 
present, and the deputies did not appear. The 
council assembled, and canon HoffmaiTstepped 
forward to defend the Pope, and denied that the 
body had power to take action in the case. 
Zwiogli claimed that the council could regulate 
matters of worship within its territory, and 
said : " Hong and Kussnacht, two villages in 
the neighborhood of Zurich, aremore of a church 
than all the bishops and popes put together/' 
Thus, says Daubigne, " did Zwingli assert the 
rights of Christians in general, whom Eome had 
stript of their inheritance. Here we see the 
beginnings of the Presbyterian system. He 
was engaged in delivering Zurich from the juris- 
diction of the bishops of Constance — he was 
likewise detaching it from the hierarchy of 
Eome; and on this thought of the flock, and 
the assembly of believers, he was laying the 
foundation of a new church order to which other 
countries would afterwards adhere." 

At this time also the question of the mass 
was violently agitated. Zwingli had taught 



DANGER AND DEFENCE. 157 

from the pulpit that the customs of the mass 
were a departure from the teachings of Scripture, 
and from the practice of the early church. But 
he counselled against hastv and unauthorized 
action in the premises. He therefore requested 
that a conference be called at Zurich for the 
free discussion of the questions then agitating 
the church. Accordingly the meeting was 
called for January 28th ; 1523, for which the 
Reformer prepared his celebrated 67 theses. 
They were ably formulated, and even yet stand 
as the bulwarks of protestantism. They teach 
that : " Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation 
for all who have been, are, or shall be." Chris- 
tians are all the brethren of Christ, and they 
have no " fathers '' upon earth. No compul- 
sion in cases of conscience should be used, unless 
the seditious disturb the peace of others. 
Christ offered Himself upon the cross for our 
sins, therefore the mass, or Lord's Supper, is not a 
sacrifice, but a commemoration of a sacrifice, and 
a seal of the redemption He has procured for us. 
On the 26 th of October another conference 
was held in Zurich, at which over nine hundred 
people were present. The discussions of this 
body hastened the cause of reform, but the rash- 
ness of a few misguided men who, afterwards, 



158 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

would proceed with great violence, was wisely 
restrained, or else a religious war would have 
been, at once, inaugurated. As it was, the ima- 
ges were generally removed from the churches in 
Zurich, in some cases it may be, with undue vio- 
lence. 

We who sit in safety in our free churches, 
are wont to criticise every extravagance which 
marked the work of the reformation. But we 
should ever remember that in all movements of 
this kind, fanatics will arise, who, with other in- 
discreet persons, will often bring reproach upon 
the cause which they champion, but misrepresent 
in spirit. Zwingli had ever to contend with this 
difficulty even as Luther did in Germany. He 
did not, at once, discard the mass for the time 
was not ripe for it ; but he modified its celebra- 
tion August 1523, and finally substituted the 
Lord's Supper for it in 1525. 

The Anabaptists as they were called, because 
they rebaptized those who had been baptized 
in infancy, arose during the time of Zwingli and 
brought sore afflictions upon themselves and 
others. At first they baptized by sprinkling, 
but subsequently immersed the candidates in the 
rivers. In connection with this they taught 
that warfare should be at once begun ; and 



DANGER AND DEFENCE. 159 

many pretended to have supernatural visions, 
and others affirmed that they were inspired with 
the Holy Ghost. Great extravagances were 
practiced, which in some cases resulted in the 
loss of life: as when in Thuringia one fanatic told 
another that he must behead him, for the Lord 
had commanded it ; the second obeyed and cut 
off the head of the one making the proposal, 
with a sword. 

Zwingli greatly deplored all fanaticism, coun- 
selled against it, and used moderation with his 
firmness in removing abuses. But the papal 
cantons charged every thing of this kind to his 
account, and nursed their wrath against him, 
and only waited their opportunity to cut him 
off. As they could not attack him directly in 
his stronghold they fell upon his friends, in the 
surrounding districts, and hastened to persecute 
them. Pastor Oechslin, Zwingli's friend when 
at Ensiedeln, who was now settled at Burg, be- 
came very obnoxious to the papists. The bishop 
tried to expel him from his charge, but his 
people sustained him and refused to let him go. 
At last the magistrate was ordered to take him 
by force. He was attacked in his own house, 
dragged out of his bed at midnight, and hurried 
off to prison. The whole community was 



160 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

aroused; the church bell was rung in alarm, 
and many persons spent the night at the river's 
side, over which the prisoner had been carried. 
As a result of this outrage some misguided per- 
sons were led to take vengeance ; and during 
the agitation a band of disorderly men took 
possession of a convent, when, by some means it 
caught fire, and was burned to the ground. 

The Eomanists held Diet after Diet, and at 
last charged four men named Rutiman, John 
Wirt and his two sons with the crime. The 
sons of Wirt were pastors, and the offence was 
never proved against them, and they constantly 
affirmed their innocence. The Romish cantons 
called upon Zurich to give them up ; and at last, 
in an evil hour, and contrary to Zwingli's 
earnest entreaty, the four men were marched off 
to Baden. A farcical trial was held, and three 
of the men were beheaded amid scoffs and jeers. 

The fire of persecution was now burning 
fiercely. Threats came with the report of 
every Diet that was held by the Romanists. 
Affairs were indeed desperate. And each new 
volley was aimed at Zwingli, who was acknow- 
ledged on all sides to be the leader of the Re- 
formed. No wonder that at times he became 
discouraged. He said that he was hated and 



DANGER AND DEFENCE. 161 

attacked because he had preached Christ, and 
had besought the church to abolish the abuses. 
All the cantons made a league against Zurich 
except Bern. The threats of war were about to 
be fulfilled ; and the papal cantons fearing that 
they would not have force enough to cope with 
the brave Zurichers, made an alliance with 
Austria by which the latter would furnish troop 
and horse, if needful. 

This brought on the " First war of Cappel." 
All the cantons were in a state of confusion, and 
in certain parts violence was used against the 
Eeformed. A minister of the Gospel named 
James Keyser, while on his way to a preaching 
appointment, was seized as he was passing 
through a piece of forest, hurried off to the can- 
ton of Schwitz, and burned at the stake. This 
aroused Zwingli. The Romanists were already 
recruiting soldiers at Zug, ostensibly with the 
object of attacking Zurich. Zwingli said it was 
time to arise for defence. Recruiting began 
in Zurich ; and when the men were ready to 
issue forth in defence of their rights, Zwingli 
brought out his old armor that he had worn 
during the campaigns in Italy, and went forth 
with them. 

The little army of Zurich took its way over 
11 



1G2 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

the Albis ; and came to a halt at Cappel, within 
its own territory. The army of Zug advanced 
to meet them ; and when it seemed certain that 
blood must be shed, negotiations were under- 
taken, which resulted favorably; and on June 
26th, 1529, while the two armies confronted 
each other a treaty was formed, and war was 
averted. The conditions were that the Gospel 
should be preached freely throughout the whole 
confederacy; that all alliances against it should 
be null and void ; that the images should be left 
to the choice of the people ; the five cantons 
were to pay the expense of the war ; and Schwitz 
should pay a thousand florins to the children of 
the martyred Keyser. 

The soldiers, now rejoiced, and fraternized, 
ate and drank together, and said w r e are all 
Swiss, we are brethren. Thankful that for the 
present at least, war was averted, Zwingli re- 
turned to his home ; but he still had fears that 
at some future time when they should be better 
prepared the papal cantons would renew the 
attack ; and his fears were to be sadly realized. 

During the time that Zwingli was waiting for 
the negotiations to cease, which were to avert 
war for the time, he composed the following 
hymn, setting it to music; and in this form it 



DANGER AND DEFENCE. 163 

was often sung by the Swiss. We furnish the 
free paraphrase of another hand, in which 
form it could very well be sung in English : — - 

Do Thou direct Thy chariot Lord, 

And guide us at Thy will ; 
Without Thy aid our strength is vain 

And useless all our skill. 
Look down upon Thy saints below 
When prostrate laid beneath the foe. 

Beloved Pastor, who hast saved 

Our souls from death and sin : 
Uplift Thy voice, awake Thy sheep ; 

That slumbering lie within 
Thy fold ; and curb, with Thy right hand, 
The rage of Satan's furious band. 

Send down Thy peace and banish strife, 

Let bitterness depart ; 
Revive the spirit of Thy grace 

In each true Christian's heart ; 
Then shall Thy church forever sing 
The praises of her heavenly King. 



CHAPTER XV. 

MEETING WITH LUTHER. 

While peace temporarily spread her mantle 
over Switzerland, and the Reformed religion 
was unmolested at Zurich, its central seat, 
Zwingli was invited to meet with the great Re- 
former of Saxony, Martin Luther, for a compa- 
rison of their views respecting the Lord's Sup- 
per. Zwingli, anxious that every difference 
between the Reformers might be removed, ac- 
cepted willingly the invitation of Philip, land- 
grave of Hesse, to meet at his castle at Marburg 
for a friendly conference. The council of Zurich 
discouraged Zwingli from attempting the jour- 
ney, for fear that he would be slain ; but he 
persevered in his resolution, and set out unat- 
tended for Basel, where he met his friend GEco- 
lampadius, with whom he went on to Marburg. 

Luther seems to have consented rather reluc- 
tantly to the invitation, having doubts as to the 

issue of the conference. Myconius says that 
164 



MEETING WITH LUTHER. 165 

Zwingli and CEcolampadius misunderstood Luther 
from the beginning in presupposing that he held 
the gross view, that we eat the body of Christ 
just as we eat common food, a view which Lu- 
ther himself repudiated ; but on the other hand 
Luther was so bitterly opposed to both of them, 
because he supposed that they recognized in the 
sacrament nothing but empty signs, without the 
real presence of Christ. There is much truth in 
this statement, no doubt ; and their differences 
were only those that earnest men, situated as 
they were, might reasonably be expected to en- 
tertain. 

The conference began on October 2d, 1529, 
in the castle, which stands on a commanding 
height overlooking Marburg. Many interested 
friends were present, but the discussion was 
mainly conducted by Zwingli and CEcolampadius 
on one side, and Luther with Melanchthon on 
the other. When they met in the common hall 
Luther took a piece of chalk and wrote upon the 
table cloth the words, in Latin : " This is my 
body." Zwingli maintained that the meaning of 
that Scripture was : " This signifies my body." 
The discussion turned on the meaning of the 
little word " is," and neither one seemed able to 
bring the other over to his view. Luther kept 



166 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

repeating the words, " This is my body," and 
Zvvingli kept asking him if he meant that Christ's 
body and blood were locally there, in the bread 
and wine. The latter claimed that Christ spoke 
in the same sense that He used in the words : u I 
am the vine ;" that there is a figure of speech in the 
passage, as in the expressions : " John is Elias," 
" The rock was Christ." Luther admitted that 
there are figurative expressions in the Bible like 
those mentioned, but he insisted that the words, 
" This is my body," were to be received literally. 

There was but little hope of an entire agree- 
ment between the reformers, for they differed, 
just where a difference has ever since existed 
between good men, in their views of the Lord's 
Sapper. Zwingli brought forward the words of 
our Saviour in John 6th, and 63 : " The flesh pro- 
fiteth nothing ; the words that I speak unto you, 
they are spirit, and they are life." He also quoted 
the words of the Creed : " He ascended into 
heaven." Also, that He was to be like His 
brethren in all things, sin excepted ; and added : 
" He therefore cannot be in several places at 
once." 

Zwingli farther quoted, in Greek, the words : 
11 Made himself of no reputation, and took upon 
him the form of a servant." Luther interrupted 



MEETING WITH LUTHER. 167 

him with : " P\,ead it to us in Latin or in Ger- 
man, not in Greek." Zwingli said : " Pardon 
me ; for twelve years past I have made use of 
the Greek Testament only." Luther continued : 
" Most dear sirs, since my Lord Jesus Christ 
says, ■ This is my body,' I believe that His body 
is really there." " How, then," asked Zwingli, 
" can you avoid re-establishing popery ? You 
say Christ's body is there ; but if it is in a place, 
it is in heaven, whence it follows it is not in the 
bread." Luther said: "I have nothing to do 
with mathematical proofs. As soon as the words 
of consecration are pronounced over the bread, 
the body is there, however wicked be the priest 
who pronounces them/' 

It was evident, at last, to all that were pre- 
sent, that a full agreement was not to be hoped 
for; and the reformers on both sides were ex- 
horted to shake hands and separate in friendship, 
agreeing to differ in their views of the doctrine 
under discussion. Zwingli came forward and 
frankly, as his habit was, held out his hand, 
which, at first, Luther refused to take. This 
brought tears into the eyes of Zwingli, who had 
not expected such conduct on the part of Luther; 
and the Landgrave added his earnest exhorta- 
tion that they should separate as friends. Ac- 



168 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

counts differ as to the final result in regard to 
the hand shaking. Daubigne says: "Luther 
then advanced towards the Swiss, and said, 'We 
consent, and I offer you the hand of peace and 
charity.' The Swiss rushed in great emotion 
towards the Wittenbergers, and all shook hands." 

Some resolutions of concord were then drawn 
up, the last words of which are as follows : 
" And although we have not been able now to 
agree, as to whether the true body and blood of 
Christ are corporeally present in the bread and 
wine, yet one party ought to exercise Christian 
charity towards the other, as far as each con- 
science can possibly allow it, and both parties 
ought to beseech God fervently, to lead us by 
His Spirit to a right understanding. Amen." 

The following, given by Hottinger, as a letter 
written by Luther to a friend, also throws light 
upon this historic interview : " They," the 
Swiss, " promised with many words, they would 
yield this much to us, that the person of Christ 
was really, though spiritually, present in the 
Holy Supper, if we would only esteem them 
worthy of the name of brethren, and in this way 
feign a reconciliation. Zwingli begged it with 
tears in his eyes before the Landgrave and all 
present, while he added : ' There are no men 



MEETING WITH LUTHER. 169 

with whom I would rather be united than with 
the Wittenbergers.' They never could endure 
my saying : ' You have another spirit than we/ 
Finally we granted so much, that it might stand 
at the conclusion of the article, not indeed that 
we were brethren, but that we would not with- 
draw from them our love, which is due even to 
an enemy." That Luther himself was pained at 
the result of the interview is evident from ano- 
ther statement made, as Christoffel informs, us in 
writing, on his departure from Marburg : " I 
crawled liked a w 7 orm in the dust, and so tor- 
mented was I, by the devil, that I thought never 
more to have seen nor wife, nor child ; I, the 
comforter of distressed souls, was without com- 
fort." 

Daubigne gives the following reflection, on 
the close of the conference: "If Luther had 
yielded, it might have been feared that the 
church would fall into the extreme of rational- 
ism ; if Zwingli, that it would rush into the ex- 
treme of Popery. It is a salutary thing for the 
church that these different views should be en- 
tertained; but it is a pernicious thing for indi- 
viduals to attach themselves to one of them, in 
such a manner as to anathematize the others. 
If it is maintained that a wicked priest operates 



170 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

this real presence of Christ by three words, we 
enter the church of the Pope. Luther appeared 
sometimes to admit this doctrine, but he has 
often spoken in a more spiritual maimer; and 
taking this great man in his best moments, we 
behold no more than an essential unity and a 
secondary diversity in the two parties of the 
reformation." It is pleasant to look at the 
matter in this light, and here we leave the sub- 
ject of the controversy, only adding a word as 
to Zwingli's real views of the Sacrament as we 
find them expressed in his writings. 

In the eighteenth article of his famous sixty- 
seven theses, he says: " Christ offered Himself 
once, and is forever a permanent compensative 
sacrifice for the sins of all believers : Whence 
we conclude that the mass is not a sacrifice, but 
a commemoration of a sacrifice, and a seal of the 
redemption which He has procured for us." In 
the confession which he sent Francis I, shortly 
before his death, he writes: "We believe that 
Christ is truly present in the Lord's Supper; 
yea, we believe that there is no communion 
without the presence of Christ." And again : 
"We believe that the true body of Christ is 
eaten in the communion in a sacramental and 
spiritual manner by the religious, believing, 



MEETING WITH LUTHER. 171 

and pious heart, as also St. Chrysostom taught/' 
Zwingli also compared the sacrament to a wed- 
ding ring which seals the marriage-union ; and 
he makes the act of communing, a confession of 
the believer's faith, and an expression of grati- 
tude for blessings received. In this he has been 
instrumental in voicing the sentiment of the 
whole protestant church, nearly. Calvin indeed 
emphasized the reality of the spiritual presence 
of Christ at the supper; but had he been spared 
to see the time of Calvin, Zwingli would, with- 
out doubt, have adopted his more elaborate 
definition, for their views were not conflicting. 

The conference at Marburg was now ended, 
and Zwingli returned in safety to his home, to 
resume his arduous duties. The pen of the re- 
former wrought marvellously. His published 
books give evidence of the industry with which 
he labored. They consist of four folio volumes 
containing the following works, — Articles of 
Faith. — An Exhortation to the whole State 
of Switzerland. — A Supplication to the Bishop 
of Constance. — Of the Certainty and Purity of 
God's Word. — On the Fathers. — Institution for 
Youth. — A Good Shepherd. — Of Justice, Divine 
and Human. — Of Providence. — A Treatise on 
Baptism — On Original Sin. On True and False 



172 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

Religion. — An Epistle to the Princes of Ger- 
many. — On the Lord's Supper. — On Christian 
Faith. — Commentaries on Genesis, Exodus, Isa- 
iah, Jeremiah, and The Psalms from the Hebrew 
and Latin. His works on the New Testament 
are, History of our Saviour's Passion. — Notes 
on the four Gospels, the Epistles to the Romans, 
Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalo- 
nians and Hebrews; the Epistle of James, and 
the first Epistle of John. For the most part 
they were written in German, and afterwards 
translated into Latin. 

We can but wonder how, amid all his other 
duties, he found time to produce this vast amount 
of literature. He once complained : " No man 
is more unfortunately situated than I for writing 
books. It is owing to the evil nature of the 
times. For it drags me out, who would rather 
keep silence and lie concealed, and compels me 
to write, while it obstinately refuses me leisure 
to do the work, and the years requisite for the 
employment of the file." He sees the hand of 
Providence in all this, however, and would be 
willing to have all his works pass into oblivion, 
if he could only get the Holy Scriptures into 
general circulation, and use. During all this 
time he preached incessantly, besides attending 



MEETING WITH LUTHER. 173 

conferences at Bern and elsewhere in which the 
chief labor of formulating the doctrines of the 
Reformed fell upon him. At the same time, he 
went forward with his pastoral work in Zurich, 
received a multitude of visitors, and attended 
to the training of his own children. 

His heart was with his family, while his mind 
was at work for the cause he had espoused. 
This we see from a letter which he wrote while 
at Bern. " Grace and peace from God, dearest 
wife. I praise God that he hath given you a 
happy recovery. He will grant us grace to bring 
up our children according to his will. Pray to 
God for me, and for us all. Greet for me all our 
children, especially comfort Margaretha in my 
name." This shows us what a kind heart dwelt 
in Zwingli. Christoffel says: "This man, who 
investigated with such penetration, and zeal, the 
sacred depths in which truth conceals itself from 
the unconsecrated eye; who wrought in the vine- 
yard of the Lord with the lofty ardor of an 
apostle — this man we often find, in his hours of 
recreation, at the cradle of his little one, sing- 
ing children's songs to the accompaniment of the 
lute, or some other instrument, which heknew. ,, 

This love to his family should endear him to 
every heart. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

DEATH AT CAPPEL. 

A glance at almost any picture, representing 
the city of Zurich, will afford the reader a view 
of the water-front, where the strong current of 
the Limmat sweeps onward towards the Rhine. 
A few steps away from the quay which borders 
the right bank, and, as already described, rest- 
ing on the side of the terrace, stayed by the 
ancient buttresses built before the Reformation 
period, stands the cathedral in which Zwingli 
preached. A little farther from the river bank 
we may see the house in which he lived. It is 
a plain, but substantial structure, having its 
gable towards the church, with two stories and 
attic, in the latter of which there is but one 
window, while in each of the lower stories there 
are two windows ; so that, by this mark, the 
house is easily identified. A large and pleasant 
garden adjoins the house on the south side, 

giving the place a home-like, and inviting, ap- 
174 



DEATH AT CAPPEL. 175 

pearance. Here it was that Zwingli dwelt in 
joy, with his household, delighting to entertain 
the many guests, who came to him for temporal 
and spiritual comfort. 

Many were the afflicted pastors that fled to 
this refuge, when the persecutions grew threat- 
ening and the outlook for the Reformed was 
gloomy, and the heavy hand of the enemy lay 
upon them. Those who came, like poor Myconius, 
who before this had been thrust out of Lucerne, 
were sure of a hearty welcome, and besides 
were refreshed and encouraged by the cheerful- 
ness of the great Eeformer, who, up to the time 
of which we are now about to write, was noted 
for his wonderful courage and hope. He used 
to say : " Whoever is filled with the Spirit of 
God, is ever on the alert to do something for 
the benefit of his fellow-men, is unwearied in 
every good work, and rather is fearful that he 
may do less than he ought. We must there- 
fore be active and fervent in our labors, not 
sleepy nor slothful ; we must not withdraw 
from the divine calling, nor take holiday, but 
be ever on the alert, and bear a ready hand to 
the work." 

This injunction to be diligent in labor, the 
Reformer himself fully exemplified in his own 



176 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

life. Of naturally a strong physical constitu- 
tion, frugal in diet, as in his youth still using 
milk and the other products of the dairy, as 
his chief articles of food, he was enabled to 
undergo great strains of labor and anxiety. 
When in 1526, GEcolampadius, and Haller were 
disputing with Dr. Eck, in the council at Ba- 
den, Zwingli who, remained in Zurich, did not 
retire to bed for six weeks, being occupied the 
whole night, in preparing answers to the charges 
of the papists. Only the strong frame of a 
mountaineer could support nature under the 
heavy pressure that lay upon him. His home 
was indeed his castle ; there he found loving 
hearts and helpful counsel, and from thence he 
went forth, with renewed strength, to his ap- 
pointed work, in the pulpit, the council, and 
the pastorate. 

But as we have intimated, a change in the 
posture of affairs at Zurich was now at hand. 
The treaty made with the five papal cantons at 
the first war of Cappel was extremely distaste- 
ful to the latter. They saw that the Reforma- 
tion was steadily gaining ground. Zwingli, its 
great leader, was indefatigable in his efforts, and 
was winning many hearts not only in Zurich, 
but also in Bern, and in St. Gaul, and in the 



DEATH AT CAPPEL. 177 

regions surrounding the Toggenburg. It was 
evident that the five cantons were preparing for 
another warlike demonstration. The Reformed 
looked to a union of those who were favorable 
to their views. Zwingli was especially in accord 
with this plan. 

Slanderous reports were now freely circulated 
throughout the land by the papists, and this 
was done while the treaty was in full force that 
no abusive language should be used. It wa3 
said : * Zwingli is a thief, a murderer, an arch- 
heretic/ and that it was the duty of the five 
cantons to sweep away the entire body of Re- 
formers from the face of the earth. Against the 
pastor of Zurich the fierceness of the intended 
persecution was aimed. One pensioner said : 
" I shall have no rest, until I have thrust my 
sword up to the hilt in the body of this impious 
wretch." Threats were followed by deeds of 
violence. The five cantons pursued all among 
those who loved the Word of God. They flung 
them into prison, imposed fines upon them, 
brutally tormented them, and mercilessly ex- 
pelled them from their country. It was evident 
that this state of affairs could not last much 
longer. 

The Bernese and Zurichers, now acting in 
12 



178 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

concert, while casting about them for some 
means to check these outrages, were reminded 
that, at a former time, the five cantons had 
established a blockade against the Preformed. 
They now resolved to turn the tables, and close 
up their markets against the foe, until they 
allowed the Word of God to be freely preached, 
according to the treaty. Against this course 
Zwingli was strongly opposed. He believed 
that by this means many worthy people would 
suffer hardship, that the five cantons would only 
be aggravated to adopt more extreme measures, 
and that thus the difficulties of the situation 
would be greatly increased. He was rather in 
favor of active measures ; for even making a 
declaration of war, and pushing the issue, that 
he now saw was inevitable, to a conclusion at 
once. 

But the pastor of Zurich, whose advice in 
matters of religion had been so widely honored, 
found that he had entered a different field when 
he assumed to give counsel in matters of state. 
The measures of the blockade having been 
agreed upon, it became his duty to announce 
the fact from his pulpit. Daubigne says : " On 
the following Sunday Zwingli appeared in his 
church, where an immense crowd was waiting 



DEATH AT CAPPEL. 179 

for him. His piercing eye easily discovered the 
dangers of the measure, in a political point of 
view, and his Christian heart deeply felt all its 
cruelty. His soul was overburdened, his eyes 
downcast. After the regular services were 
concluded, he proceeded to read the resolutions 
which had been adopted, declaring that the 
Waldstetters were to be excluded from their 
markets. But he immediately added his pro- 
test : i Men of Zurich ! you deny food to the 
five cantons, as to evil-doers : well ! let the blow 
follow the threat, rather than reduce poor inno- 
cent creatures to starvation. If, by not taking 
the offensive, you appear to believe that there is 
not sufficient reason for punishing the "Wald- 
stetters, and yet you refuse them food and drink, 
you will force them, by this line of conduct, to 
take up arms, to raise their hands, and to in- 
flict punishment upon you. This is the fate that 
awaits you/ " A sad but true prophecy, as the 
sequel proved, and one that would involve the 
Reformer in its painful result. 

The difficulty of enforcing the orders given 
for the blockade may be easily imagined. What- 
ever indignities the five cantons had heaped 
upon the Reformed, it was unwise in them to 
adopt this expedient for defence. The forest 



180 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

cantons, Lucerne, Zug, Schwitz, Uri, and Unter- 
walden were bound in firm bonds to the inter- 
ests of the papacy. Their territory lay between 
that of Zurich and Bern; the effect of the 
blockade therefore was to hem them in and cut 
off their supplies, which they usually obtained 
from the larger towns, like Zurich, Bern, and 
Basel, all of which under the influence of 
Zwin^li and others, had embraced the Reformed 
faith. The union of Zurich with Bern was 
cemented by the conference which had been 
held in the latter city early in the year 1528, 
which lasted for eighteen days, and in which 
Zwingli distinguished himself, both in the part 
he took in the learned discussions, and in the 
two famous sermons which he preached on the- 
occasion. From that time onward the Bernese 
acted with Zurich; but in the matter of the 
blockade, the greatest burden of defence would 
fall upon the latter, while the former had been 
the means of bringing it about. 

The measures of the blockade were now en- 
forced; the Reformed closed their markets 
against the- five cantons, allowing them to re- 
ceive neither corn nor wine, salt, iron nor steel, 
until they should allow the Gospel to be preached 
among them without persecution. When the 



DEATH AT CAPPEL. 181 

wagons of the people of the five cantons, were 
driven towards the large towns, they were 
stopped at the border of the canton, unloaded, 
upset, and turned into barricades for soldiers. 
The year previous had been one of great scarcity 
in the forest cantons, and the Sweating-sickness 
had broken out among the people ; and now, worst 
of all, their supplies were cut off by the very 
cantons against whom they had held a bitter 
grudge, since the peace of Cappel. The people 
of Schwitz, appeared openly with pine-branches 
in their hats, the old form of a declaration of 
war. Their allies were everywhere taking down 
their halberds and sharpening them for their in- 
tended bloody work. Recruiting went briskly 
forward, forces were mustering, and tidings were 
borne by each new comer to Zurich, that the war 
would soon begin. 

And what preparations are the people making 
for defence ? Life went on as usual at Zurich ; 
the people seemed to be at ease, and the council 
payed no heed to the alarming tidings which 
came to them from bevond the mountains. 
Zwingli went forward with his daily labors. He 
preached at the regular hours; he visited the 
sick, and neglected none of his usual duties. 
The early morning hours he devoted specially 



182 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

to prayer and the study of the Scriptures, till 
the hour arrived which summoned him into the 
church to preach, or to give the lecture in the 
hall of the Academy. In the evening, as usual, 
he was engaged with his extensive correspond- 
ence; now encouraging the people of St. Gaul, 
who had taken a noble stand for the truth, cast- 
ing out all the images from their houses of wor- 
ship ; or writing to those who sought spiritual 
counsel and comfort. But the spirit of former 
days had fled from him. The sound of music is 
now seldom heard in his apartments. He pores 
over the gloomy Prophecies of Jeremiah, as if 
he found something in those lamentations suited 
to the distracted condition of his own times and 
country. 

One night he went out, with some friends, to 
confer with Parson Bullinger at Bremgarten. 
During this nocturnal conference, three town 
councillors were stationed as sentinels before 
the parsonage. Before daylight Zwingli took 
his way homeward ; his mind was filled with a 
presentiment of his approaching death. Bathed 
in tears, he said at parting: "0 my dear 
Henry, may God protect you. Be faithful to 
our Lord Jesus Christ and His church. " And 
so they parted. The advice seemed most timely, 



DEATH AT CAPPEL. 183 

in view of the fact that Bullinger became his 
successor in Zurich. The Reformer once, in 
those days, gave vent to his feelings in his pul- 
pit, in the following language : " I see that the 
most faithful warnings cannot save you ; you 
will not punish the pensioners of the foreigner. 
They have too firm a support among us ! A 
chain is prepared — behold it entire — it unrolls 
link after link — soon they will bind me with it, 
and more than one pious Zuricher with me. . . 
It is against me they are enraged ! I am ready ; 
I submit to the Lord's will. But these people 
shall never be my masters !" 

TheZurichers still continuing passive, Zwingli, 
after a long struggle with himself, and earnest 
prayer, handed in his resignation to the council, 
stating that he had labored among them for 
eleven years, but that he could not now arouse 
them to a sense of their common peril, and 
therefore asked them to relieve him of his pas- 
torate. This they refused to do ; and the Re- 
former, with his characteristic sense of honor, 
would not voluntarily leave them in the time of 
trial. A messenger now arrived from Lucerne, 
with the tidings that the standard of battle had 
been planted in the great square. This was the 
rallying point for all the soldiers of the five 



184 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

cantons. A hasty proclamation was sent forth 
to the effect that the attacks made upon the 
treaties, the discord sown throughout the Con- 
federation, and especially the refusal to sell them 
provisions, was the cause of the warfare. Hardly 
had the messengers, bearing these despatches, 
departed, before the army was put in motion. 
Upon entering the free districts, the soldiers en- 
tered the churches and observed that the images 
had been removed ; this aroused their anger, 
and they pillaged and plundered without limit, 
especially in the houses of the pastors. At the 
same time, the division that was to form the 
main army marched upon Zug, thence to move 
upon Zurich. 

The Zurichers were under a complete delu- 
sion ; the members of the council simply said, 
when the first news of the war came, that the 
five cantons were only making a little noise to 
frighten them. But when the enemy appeared 
at Zug refugees hastened to Zurich with their 
woful tidings. 1 Now the whole city was 
aroused. A straggling army was hastily 
brought together ; a few energetic men pushed 
on to the old battle field, on the border line of 
their territory, at Cappel. This had been the 
seat of an ancient convent, hence the name 



DEATH AT CAPPEL. 185 

Cappel, or Chapel. Citizens with members of 
the council were seizing their arms ; a reign of 
terror had commenced, and a sudden attack 
upon the defenceless city was feared. It was 
needful that men should go on towards Cappel, 
that the blood-thirsty cantoners might be turned 
back. A horse, ready saddled, stood pawing 
the ground, and champing his bit, in front of 
the Parsonage in Zurich. He is to bear his 
master away to the battle-field. At the orders 
of the council, and in keeping with the old 
Swiss customs, he must attend the little army 
as chaplain, that he may cheer up the men, and 
give comfort to the dying. We have seen that 
Zwingli was without any hope that the expedi- 
tion would be successful. He went forth from 
a sense of duty, under the presentiment that he 
would never see his dear wife and children on 
earth again. 

Poor Anna Zwingli, had a double portion of 
sorrow to bear that day. Her early life had 
been filled with sadness, but in later years, she 
had been happy in the home of her husband, 
with her little ones growing up around her. 
But to-day that sweet cup of domestic bliss is 
embittered by fears and anxious forebodings. 
Her husband, her son Gerold, and her brother 



186 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

are all hastening away to the battle-field, she 
will never see them more until they meet in 
the land where there are no partings. Zwingli 
took down his armor from the wall ; he bade 
his weeping wife and children farewell, and as 
if riding to his martyrdom, as he was, without 
enthusiasm, without hope, he followed, with the 
little army, along the windings of the Sihl, up 
towards the top of the Albis. 

When on the way, if any one spoke to 
Zwinsdi, he was found firm in faith : he did not 
conceal the presentiment that he should never 
see his church or family again. There was but 
little enthusiasm on the part of the troops 
either. It was rather the march of a funeral 
procession than of an army, except that all was 
disorder and confusion. Along the whole route, 
some ten or twelve miles distance from Zurich, 
messengers came running in breathless haste 
urging them to come to the assistance of their 
brethren. 

When they were half way to Cappel, and 
climbing up the steep side of Mt. Albis, they 
heard the report of the first shot fired by the 
enemy. It had passed over the convent of 
Cappel ; and was the signal for immediate action. 
This nerved the men to renewed effort; they 



DEATH AT CAPPEL. 187 

pushed on, overburdened with armor, dragging 
the artillery, panting, fainting, leaning against 
the trees for a moment's rest, and appearing to 
be stragglers rather than soldiers. 

Once on the summit, they paused a moment 
to take breath, and look down into the region 
where the battle was already raging ; to many 
of them it was to be a field of death. 

Here the little army halted for counsel ; some 
were for delaying until more recruits should 
come in. But the advanced guard of the Zu- 
richers, were already engaging the enemy, 
within their sight, having only a handful of 
men while the enemy were present in over- 
whelming numbers. Zwingli said : " How can 
we stay calmly upon these heights, while we 
hear the shots that are fired at our fellow- 
citizens ? In the name of God I will march to- 
wards our warriors, prepared to die in order to 
save them." This is indeed a critical moment ! 
that some Frederic the Wise were here to 
bear this man of God hence, even as he bore 
Luther away to the castle of Wartburg ! But 
this was not to be ; there was one life that all 
that army of the Cantons had been marshalled 
to extinguish, and the hour of their triumph 
was at hand. 



188 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

The tide of battle soon swept over the place 
where the Reformer, and the troops of Zurich, 
were passing. From a dense piece of woods, 
near at hand, the enemy poured forth a mur- 
derous volley which swept down many Zurichers 
before it. Soon after this the Reformer, while 
he was bending over a fallen countryman to 
give him Christian comfort, was struck on his 
helmet by a stone, with such force that he was 
thrown to the ground. In this fact we see the 
importance of Zwingli having armor upon his 
person. Though he carried weapons of the old 
Swiss pattern, he did not use them. The chap- 
lains in those times, wore armor, as chaplains 
now wear uniforms. He soon summoned up 
strength to rise again, when he received a fatal 
stroke from a spear. He again fell and ex- 
claimed : " What evil is this ? They can kill the 
body, but they cannot kill the soul." These 
were his last words. 

Night spread her mantle over the scene of 
carnage. Some prowling soldiers, discovered 
Zwingli lying near a pear tree, against which 
his body partly leaned ; his hands were firmly 
clasped, his lips moved in prayer, while his 
eyes were directed heavenward: " Will you 
confess, shall we fetch a priest ?" they cry to 



DEATH AT CAPPEL. 189 

him. He only shakes his head. "Then call 
upon the mother of God, and the blessed saints, 
in your heart," they cry. The dying man 
heeds them not. The soldiers uttered a volley 
of oaths over the fallen man, saying : " No doubt 
you are one of those heretics of Zurich. " One 
man, being anxious to know who he was, and as 
it was already growing dark, stooped down, 
raised his head and turned it toward the camp- 
fire, which had been kindled near by, and then 
dropping it heavily, exclaimed, " I think it is 
Zwingli " ! An officer, named Captain Bockin- 
ger, from Unterwalden, a papist, and a pensioner, 
upon hearing the name Zwingli, hurried to the 
spot. He said : " Zwingli ! that vile heretic, 
that rascal, that traitor ! Die then, obstinate 
heretic ! " and suiting the action to the word, he 
struck him with his sword, inflicting a fatal 
wound. 

Thus on October, 12th, 1531, the spirit of that 
noble man took its flight to that God whose ser- 
vice had been, for years past, his delightful em- 
ploy. The morning dawned. The victors spread 
themselves upon the field to gloat over the havoc 
they had wrought. They found the remains of 
many noble men who had died in the vain at- 
tempt to turn away danger from their homes. 



190 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

Some twenty pastors of the Reformed lay 
stretched upon the field, among the slain. At 
last the conquerers reached the pear-tree where 
lay the lifeless body of Zwingli. u Immediately 
the drums beat to muster ; the dead body was 
tried, and it was decreed that it should be quar- 
tered for treason against the Confederation, and 
then burnt for heresy. The executioner of Lu- 
cerne carried out the sentence. Flames con- 
sumed Zwingli's disjointed members; the ashes 
of swine were mingled with his : and a lawless 
multitude rushing upon his remains, flung them 
to [the four winds of heaven." Some kind- 
hearted Reformers, it is said, have planted 
young pear-trees on the spot where Zwingli fell ; 
as each successive tree grew old, therefore, a 
new tree was ready to take its place, and a 
u Zwingli pear-tree," is found here at the pre- 
sent time. Also a metal plate is inserted in the 
rock near by, and at the road-side, bearing a 
German and Latin inscription, descriptive of 
Zwingli's death. Yet he has a better monument 
than this in the affection of many Christian 
hearts. 

After some time of warlike demonstration 
between the two armies, following that bloody 
contest on the 12th of October, negotiations 



DEATH AT CAPPEL. 191 

were entered into looking to a final peace. On 
the 16th of November, the following articles 
were adopted. " The Keformation shall be 
guaranteed in Zurich, and all her immediate 
dependencies, as well as in other places where it 
has been received ; yet all those, who may wish 
to return to the mass, or to prove by a new 
vote, which is the prevailing party, shall be at 
liberty to do so. Church property was to be 
divided according to the census, and Zurich 
pledged herself to abstain from any farther in- 
tervention, where she had no claim to rule." 
And so ended the second war of Cappel. 

Poor Anna Zwingli, when the tidings were 
borne to her of her husband's death, sank down 
upon her knees, and with her weeping children 
around her called upon the God of the widow, 
and the fatherless. Her son, her brother, and 
her brother-in-law had also been slain. But 
she knew where to turn in her overwhelming 
affliction ; she trusted in Christ. 

Zwingli was not forty-eight years of age 
when he thus laid down his life for his coun- 
try, and for his faith in God. He still lives, in 
the affection of all those who long to see the 
human mind freed from the bonds of ignorance, 
and the soul freed from the shackles of spiritual 



192 THE MOUNTAIN BOY. 

despotism. Wherever the religion of Protest- 
antism is spread over the earth, there will 
men admire the learning, the loftiness of soul, 
the courage and the piety of Ulric Zwingli. 

" Servant of God, well done ! 
Rest from Thy loved employ ; 
The battle fought, the victory won, 
Enter Thy Master's joy ! 

The voice at twilight came ; 

He started up to hear ; 
A mortal arrow pierced his frame ; 

He fell, but felt no fear. 

His spirit with a bound 

Left its encumbering clay : 
His tent, at sunrise, on the ground 

A darkened ruin lay. 

The pains of death are past, 

Labor and sorrow cease, 
And life's long warfare closed at last, 

His soul is found in peace. 

Soldier of Christ, well done ! 

Praise be Thy new employ ; 
And while eternal ages run, 

Best in Thy Saviour's joy 1 " 



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